A Little Gift From ENCOM
by Red-eyed-Zombiekitten
Summary: Judith has feelings for Ed, her superior at ENCOM. But he's cold as ice… Only his Grid alter ego seems to be able to give her what she desires… But that's not enough. She wants real love. *Sensual erotic, romance, drama and some supsense* Ed/female OC
1. Gift

_Author's note:_

_This is one of the very few fics around that shows Ed Dillinger jr paired with a female OC. :3 If you love sensual erotic (but non-pornographic) content, but also a certain amount of story, emotions, suspense and thrill, as well as some twists, then you sure will like this fic. Actually, it's a Dillinger-love-fic all through. ;)  
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_There's a tiny little bit of Sam and Alan, but they are not major to the storyline. Also: After movie events. But, no Quorra, no Tron (poor guy... actually these movies are centered around and named after him LOL)  
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_The Grid I'm writing about is more like in the first Tron movie. Means: It's actually an "ENCOM-Grid" with a world consisting of only programs that are being used by the company.  
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_Check out also the sequel ! ;)  
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_Oh and: I'm always delighted as hell when I'm getting a reaction to what I wrote! And I will thank you on my knees for every little word you drop in my review box. Thank you so much in advance._

_And now: enjoy ! ^_^ _

_*** Disclaimer: I do not own Tron:Legacy nor the characters of it. And I'm not making any money from publishing this story ***_

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><p><strong>A Little Gift From ENCOM<strong>

Chapter 1: Gift

To get access to the Grid was nothing but daily business for ENCOM these days. Since about three years of further development the company was using the virtual world for several purposes: To fight viruses, to impress possible investors by arranging sightseeing tours … And for passing the free time.  
>Every now and then employees who achieved something remarkable with their work or were just outstandingly loyal and devoted in what they were doing for the company gained the exclusive chance to get access to the Grid for games and fun and adventure. A special sort of bonus gratification nearly everyone at ENCOM was eagerly striving for.<br>So the Grid meanwhile has grown to some kind of a playground of leisure for outstandingly diligent workers.

And so was Judith.

Since two years she was working really hard for this company, offering all of her energy, her lifeblood and quite often her free time to ENCOM. She really earned herself this unique opportunity to travel into the virtual world.  
>Although she wasn't entirely into this whole Grid-thing – in fact the thought of getting drawn <em>into<em> a computer scared her a little – she do was proud to be one of the chosen ones who were given the rare chance to experience the fascinating world of the Grid.  
>What it was all about she knew from instructors and her fellow employees who told her about racing games, duels, games of skill and stuff like this. But it wasn't entirely secure, they said. The games were sometimes dangerous, were at some ones own risk. In the worst case one could get hurt or even killed. But she wasn't really <em>that <em>afraid of the Grid. She would take care. And probably she would just end up walking around, doing some kind of sight seeing.

* * *

><p>Today was the day.<p>

She just passed the procedure of getting herself "digitized" and transferred into the virtual world. It was no big deal at all, nothing painful, nothing spectacular, just sitting there without moving, two instructors around her, one controlling her pulse and heartbeat, the other operating the computer and the laser.  
>She felt an electrifying warmth for a moment as the beam hit her. And then she lost her conscious for the blink of an eye.<p>

She felt a little dizzy and weak, was trembling on her shaking knees, as she finally found herself in the Grid. She was breathing fast, her heart pounding in her chest as if complaining with anger about the unnatural incidents it had to bear with. After she had gathered some strength again she took a look around.

Her area of arrival was a pretty spacious, high, but bare, dark blue room. Four huge, wide windows to her right, a semicircular construction which she assumed to be a bar to her left.

First she had to wait she's been told during her instructions. A host would appear to guide her.

Well… she was waiting…

She walked towards the windows from where she had a stunning overview to the entire Grid landscape. It was so beautiful … Full of breathless fascination she looked down to the buildings, the lights, the freeways, the arena, and the mountains in the back. There were even clouds floating across the dark blue sky as if there was atmosphere existing in the Grid.  
><em>This view alone is worth the travel<em>… she was thinking to herself, smiling in silent bliss.  
>For some moments of pure enjoying and devotion she was just sitting on the wide windowsill. Then she moved. She mentioned her own reflection in the window. She was wearing one of these fancy skin tight suits with the light-blue stripes everyone has told her about. Slowly she turned around, was looking at herself, inspecting her body. Fortunately she had been doing some exercises and lost some weight in the last few months. She couldn't imagine herself wearing this thing with a belly and a fat ass…<p>

_As if that would matter! Silly you!_ She scolded herself. Nobody of her fellow employees was in the Grid anyway at the moment, only her. Nobody would see her apart from some inhuman programs.

She approached the bar. Rows of several bottles where arranged there on a shelve made of glass, not a single one with a brand or a name on it that told her about the content.

"Well… there's nothing to be said against some surprises in life", she muttered and took one of the bottles of which she liked the color. It was filled with something pink and syrupy. She poured it into a glass and took a little sip. It was surprisingly delicious! Cold, sweet, rich and rather strong liquid was running down her throat leaving a warm, soft and pleasant burning in her stomach.

"Hello User!"

Taken aback Judith turned around to the voice suddenly sounding into the silence. There was someone appearing out of the shadows of a corner. A slender, lean man was walking towards her: shiny dark brown hair, well groomed with softly curved bangs reaching the rim of his purple tinted glasses, the stubble of a well trimmed, short beard around his broad grin.

_Dillinger! _ She realized startled.

Impulsively she stepped back as Dillinger was approaching. She hated him! That arrogant, selfish bloke she had to work with every day, for he was her superior, head of the department. And now she had to pass even her free time with him? How awful…

Well… There has been a time, when she was new at ENCOM, when she was in love with him, even was seriously interested in him. He was more handsome than every other man she had met before and he was over brimming with intelligence and self confidence for his work, what made him appear staggeringly attractive. But he destroyed everything by being mean and repulsive and by acting like a complete asshole. So she had swallowed every tender feeling for him and had learned to hate him.

"Did you have a pleasant transfer to the Grid?" Dillinger spoke in soft and polite words as if he was just doing small talk, as if he was nothing but her host welcoming her to the Grid.  
>And slowly Judith began to assume: This might wasn't the real Dillinger at all, only his alter ego program.<p>

"Yes", she replied unemotional, still not entirely sure if it really was a program or not she was talking to and therefore staying distrustful.

Dillinger took place next to her at the bar, leaning his elbow on the blank surface, letting the other one rest on his hip, constantly smiling at her, cheekily, but yet appealing. A quite irritating sight, for she had never seen him smile like this before. Too bad…  
>She looked him up and down. He was wearing a skin tight shiny black suit with a lavender circuitry following his muscles, veins and tendons in a way that made his body look even more attractive. It seemed as if his circuitry was deliberately underlining the beauty of his body, giving it sort of a peculiar but yet striking, eye catching identity.<p>

He was indeed a stunning appearance. Judith just couldn't deny that fact. And now that he was within the reach of an arm she could take a deeper look into his eyes. They were dimmed by the lilac of those stylish shaped, fancy glasses – which Dillinger in real life probably would never wear – but still she could see how bright and shiny they were. Two icy diamonds piercing into her so that she was shivering for a moment.

"Your first time in the Grid…" he said. It was not a question.

"Yes…"

"You will love it", he claimed as if there was no doubt about that. Then he was making himself a drink too. "Cheers!" he said, not losing eye contact for a second while drinking the same pink liquid.

She took a sip too and finally asked him, because she couldn't stand the uncertainty any longer: "Are you a program?"

He placed his glass back on the bar, looking at her and remaining silent for a few moments, as if teasing her by holding back the answer.

"Yes I am. My name is Darek."

"Are you my Grid-host?"

"No."

"So what's your use then?"

With a slight smile in the corner of his mouth he replied: "I'm here to please you."

"…pardon?"

"I'm here to satisfy your needs", he said, giving the impression of being slightly amused, taking a sip of his drink again, kept fixing his eyes on hers.

Judith was convinced that he must be talking about something else than she thought he was.

"I don't understand, Darek. I'm sorry." That program sure had some inadequacies…

He sighed as if he was talking to a silly child that didn't comprehend anything. Then he moved a little closer. "My use is to satisfy your sexual desires." His voice was lower now, almost a whisper. His gaze… so intense, nearly intimate.

Judith shook her head in pure puzzlement. "You're making fun of me!"

"I am a program. I have no sense of humor", he replied, although there was this small but mischievous grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes.

Judith studied his features, suspiciously, her brows furrowed, trying to make out what kind of weird game this program was playing with her.

Dareks shoulder was now touching hers after he had smoothly shoved his body one step closer to her. He reached out his hand to stroke hers.  
>"So… Are you ready then?"<p>

All of a sudden she moved away from the bar, raising her hands in a gesture of repulse. Slowly stepping backwards she looked at him, confused and slightly roused.  
>"Let me tell you, <em>program<em>: I'm not much into fooling around. So stop it and escort me to the Grid, which is, I assume, your _only _purpose!"

He was still smiling. "You _are _already in the Grid, Judith. And there's nothing more worth to experience than the carnal delights I am offering to you. Believe me."

She slowly began to consider that this program might really was serious about what he was saying. When it was possible to drink virtual beverages and taste them, enjoy them as if they were real then it was certainly also possible to…  
>She was shocked and distracted.<br>_What kind of leisure is ENCOM offering to its employees? That's disgraceful!_

And what was Dillinger's part in all of this? Was he a pervert getting a kick out of creating a sex program after his image, harrassing his female inferiors? Or …was it maybe her own desire she saw, materializing as the one she once had wanted…? What ever... It was completely immoral and distasteful to even think about such a thing.

So Judith stepped back, embarrassed and bewildered. "I'm sorry but I'm not going to take that… _offer_! Thanks, but … NO!" Again she shook her head, her hands still raised as if beating him back.

"Why not? The Grid is for fun. Why shouldn't you have fun then?" Darek said while he was slowly sauntering, almost sneaking, towards her. His circuitry; a distracting, entrancing glow in the dark.

"When I came here I wasn't expecting _that_ kind of fun, you know! That's just … That's not my cup of tea, sorry!" She turned away now from him entirely, heading one of those huge windows.

For a few seconds Darek stood still, arms crossed, looking over to her, smiling his nonchalant, complacent smile as if amusing about her. Then he was moving again. She watched him approach. His moves were so smooth but yet powerful, every step a lithe expression of energy. He was pure beauty. Magnetic, infinite beauty… She couldn't take her eyes of him.

The color of his light-stripes seemed to be a little more intense now, a little richer. A slightly pulsating violet-purple as he reached her.

Briskly Judith turned to the window, crossing her arms and looking down to the Grid in a gesture of rejection.  
>But she wasn't expecting Darek to suddenly appear right behind her, unabashed, his chest touching her back. And in the very moment she wanted to protest, he began to stroke her arms up to her shoulders and back, very tender, very slow. His fingertips were just faintly gliding along the material of her suit, but it felt as if he was touching her bare skin. She took a deep, trembling breath, feeling a shiver down her spine and a warmth arising in her body.<p>

"Let me give you just a taste of it... Maybe then you consent… " Darek spoke with a low, warm and seducing whisper and wrapped his arms around her waist, his fingertips on her belly, his hip now against hers.

"Please don't…" Judith said and turned around.

Ignoring her protest, Darek reached out his hand to caress her hair, full of devotion and admiration as if he never had touched something so exquisite. His fingers felt warm on Judith's skin as he let them slip over her cheek. The texture of his glove was sleek and silky like a mixture of suede and latex. Two fingers of his right hand, the index and the middle finger, were also part of his circuitry and felt a little warmer than the other ones.

She was like paralyzed, stunned by his appearance and couldn't do anything else but to look into his face. His features; angelically beautiful and lecherously hungry at the same time.

Now that he was that close she saw that there was no doubt he was a program. He was no human being. Although Dillinger in real life was a stunningly handsome man with nearly flawless features he wasn't as perfect as this virtual phenomenon in front of her. Not only was he taller than Dillinger, there was this scar that was missing, those freckles, that little dissymmetry of his nose, that one faintly crooked tooth…

"This is not reality", he began to speak to her as if confirming his artificiality, the sound of his voice serene but yet intense and deep. And for a moment Judith was confused by his breath touching her face as if he was human and breathing.

"Give into that unique experience of pleasure I'm offering to you. There's no shame, no commitment and no rationality. And there will be no regrets and no consequences. There's only this moment of lust."

The tips of his fingers were still caressing her cheeks and her hair as he lowered his face a little more down to hers, looking deep into her eyes, his lids slightly closed, while he moved even closer, forcing her to lean against the windowsill, his hip meeting hers.

Her heart began to beat a little faster. The seducing, pulsating warmth of his body was so pleasant, so captivating… And his gaze, invading her, ferociously, as if forging to her innermost part, was way too deep to withstand.  
>With words, dripping heavy from her trembling lips she said: "No … this … this is just … indecent… and embarrassing… and …"<p>

"It shouldn't be…" he whispered, his mouth tickling her ear, leaving some tender licks there while his hand was slowly sliding from her neck to her chest, following the light-stripe between her breasts down to her belly.

"No!" she shouted roused, turning away from him in a rush. "I'm not going to –"

But she couldn't move far for Darek put a stop to her every action by fixing her between his arms, his hands grasping the edge of the windowsill just behind her.

"Relax!" he said low as if commanding her tenderly. "Just let go of all of your worries, fears and ethical standards and allow yourself to enjoy." His voice was gentle and loving.  
>"I know you want to…" he added. His words; only a breathe in her ear.<p>

"How can you dare!" she hissed. But her voice began to tremble as his lips touched the corner of her mouth, warm and soft and titillating.

"You are the User, Judith, so go on and use me! That's what I'm here for…" he murmured against her neck. Her body still flexed against his, her voice weakly moaning in silent but faltering protest. "What's so bad about releasing your own desires, Judith? I know, as a woman you've been educated to suppress your sexual drive for the sake of manners und social orders. But here you are free to do what ever you want without worrying about reputation or morality. "

Slowly he let his lips slide along hers, faintly touching, the tip of his tongue teasing her flesh with just one single lick.

"I can't…" she breathed, feeling but the sweet and mindless urge to taste his kiss.

"I fulfill your every wish…" His voice… a tender draft on her neck. His words... pure sweet promising.  
>"I will do what ever you like. How ever you like it. And you don't even have to tell me…"<p>

She softly whined and shook her head, fighting against her own reservations and her modesty, not against him.

His mouth slightly fondling her earlobe he continued: "Your body temperature just has reached 36.8 degrees… your pulse is 150 to 90… your heartbeat is two times faster than normal, constantly pumping blood to specific parts of your body… to your lips… your cheeks … and most of all to your vulva which is beginning to get warm and swollen and moist. Right now. In this moment…" The content of his words was just bare explaining of some biological facts, but his voice was the one of a lover full of lust.

"See, Judith?"

Judith couldn't move. Not because of Darek's tight embrace for he had loosened his grasp now. To give her room? To let her decide? She didn't know. But a sweet and soft defenselessness was fixing her body anyway, making her knees shake in weakness.  
>As if taking advantage of her fading resistance, Darek lent over to kiss her, hot and slow and with devoted relish, gently licking her lips, playing with her tongue. And just as she began to play along, her body writhing up, a silent moan arising in her throat, he stopped to look at her.<br>She returned his gaze and saw that he was breathing quite hard as if aroused, his shoulders moving up and down, his mouth slightly opened. His circuitry had now turned to an even richer color, to a deep, almost carmine glowing purple which seemed to pulsate with his every breath.

Full of overwhelming fascination Judith touched his suit, let her hands glide along the shining circuitry which felt hot under her shaking fingers like feverish blood vibrating through veins.

Smiling in silent complacency Darek reached out for the collar of her suit, let one finger slip under the material, and as if there was an invisible zipper he opened it at its front, opened it with a smooth, quick move down to the middle of her body. Then he slipped the suit from her shoulders, and it was entirely gliding from her body like it was nothing but a cloth made of silk.

Judith was leaning to the windowsill, letting it happen with a hot, sweet feeling of anticipation and arousal pulsing through her body. She wasn't thinking anymore; pure lust had made her drunk.

His eyes not moving away from hers as if watching her reaction he opened his own suit the same way as hers, leaving but a two hands breadth stripe of bare skin from his throat to his crotch, while all the other parts of his body still were remaining covered.  
>His hungry gaze, gliding all over her body now, enjoying the sight, caressing every part with his eyes, made Judith feel more attractive and desirable than she has ever felt in her life.<p>

He embraced her for another kiss. Full of passion he grabbed her neck while his kiss was growing to a fervent demanding.  
>Judith flung her arms around him, feeling the material of his suit, that velvety sleekness, leaving an indescribable, tingling sensation everywhere on her naked skin. She let her hands delve into his soft, full hair and caressed it full of sweet bliss, allowing him to kiss her until she was nothing but a weak and yearning creature in his arms.<p>

His right hand was gliding down her body, passing her breasts, sliding along her belly, slipping finally between her legs. And she gasped with surprise and lust as two of his pulsating, slick, hot fingers were diving into her flesh, moving slowly, caressing in a gentle rhythm while constantly moving deeper.

She was moaning with pleasure while Darek was watching her face as if enjoying her reactions, and being highly satisfied with what he saw.

Judith was shivering, bending one leg.

One more stroke and she would…

Losing all control of her body she came. With a subdued cry of rapture she clenched her fingers into Darek's shoulders, the back of her head hitting the window behind her.

His fingers still resting inside of her he waited till even the last slight pulses of her climax had died down. And while he was kissing her again, a kiss that felt like an eternity of sweet delight, she felt her body arousing once more in a pure, hot rush of hunger still burning.

His kisses were wandering down her body now, teasingly slow. And Judith's tensing muscles were trembling in sweet anticipation.

Some tender caresses on her breasts … her belly …

He kneed down before her, placing one of her legs on his shoulder. His lips on the inside of her thighs… his tongue between her legs… his stubble gently tickling her sensitive flesh…

Her muscles were flexing and with a breathless, trembling moan she grabbed Darek's head and closed her eyes, sighing with pleasure with every of his gentle licks. And just as she felt she couldn't take that sweet delight any longer without just bursting of lust he stood up again and wrapped one of her legs around his waist. He invaded her as if he was just growing into her, filling her space completely without hurting her in any way.

It was no flesh she felt gliding into her body, it was pure, hot, electrifying energy.

For a moment, for the blink of an eye, she lost her breath, lost her thoughts, her mind, everything. Even her heart, strained by the overwhelming rapture it had to cope with, seemed to miss one beat.  
>And then he began to move, his deep and gentle touch reaching parts of her body she never knew existing. With every thrust he stirred up blissful sensations which were entirely new to her.<p>

He was moving faster, breathing hard against her neck, panting, moaning with pleasure. And although she assumed that this was part of the program, part of pleasing her, the lust in his voice felt so real that it was arousing her even more.  
>She wrapped both of her legs around his waist as he heaved her onto the windowsill. While he held her thighs firmly to him she felt him deeper inside of her than even possible, feeling him in every part of her body, like electricity floating through her veins.<p>

His moves were getting slower now as if teasing her. Then he stopped.  
>"Turn around!" he ordered her tenderly with his deep, soft voice. And she did it without hesitating. Her hands on the windowsill, she spread her legs to receive him again. And while she was looking at his reflection in the window, seeing his light-stripes leaving a deep dark carmine glow all over, he re-invaded her yearning flesh.<p>

She leant her forehead to the window, her hot sighs condensing on the cold glass, as he continued his loving; each thrust, each move he made a delicate, sweet and almost unbearably pleasant delight to her body.  
>He stroked her hair aside and she felt his lips and his tongue beginning to caress her neck, her shoulders, her back; every kiss a tender tickle.<p>

While his moves were growing faster now and more and more intense, for she wanted it that way, wanted him to bring her to that sweet finale, his left hand was caressing her breasts while the right one was moving towards her hip, staying there for a few moments, holding her tight against his moves, letting it finally glide between her legs.  
>And as he placed his middle finger there, let it rest on that certain spot, causing a gentle friction with every move he did, Judith couldn't hold back her body's reactions for one moment longer. With a breathless scream of lust she let go, while Darek was embracing her tight, her body writhing in ecstasy, her fingers clinging to his arms.<p>

But he wouldn't stop.  
>He just went on with his deep and delicate movements, rousing again waves of passion in her body, letting them grow and burst. Again. And again. So easily as if the reactions of her body were all in his hands.<p>

Tears of rapture were running down her cheeks now, for this was the only way her body could anyhow cope with the overpowering emotions Dareks loving was stirring up in her.

He was still holding her, now that it was over, waiting with patience until she had calmed down. His arms were wrapped around her firmly and caring for she was trembling hard as if she could fall on her knees any minute. But he kept her save in his strong embrace.

As she had gathered her strength again she turned around.

In quiet bliss she enjoyed the beautiful sight he was; His dazzling face, the stripe of nude, smooth, rosy skin along the front side of his suit, the glowing of the circuitry, which had now returned to its former lavender. And while her body was wet all over, he had not a single bead of sweat on his flawless skin.

He picked up her suit from the floor after a while and wrapped it gently around her shoulders as if it was a cape. And to Judith's surprise it immediately took up again its initial form, was closing around all her body parts again as if living and remembering its former shape.

"You can come here again, when ever possible. I'll be there", he promised, a warm smile on his lips and a tender sound in his voice, kissing her a last time, before he was walking away, her gaze following him with a trace of melancholy in her heart.

As if reading her mind, knowing her fears, he turned to her again and said: "You don't have to worry. No one at ENCOM knows about what's going on here."

"What about Dillinger?" she asked. But he already had turned away from her, delving into the shadows of the back of the room he had came from, disappearing without giving her an answer.

* * *

><p>The next day at ENCOM was awkward.<p>

To meet Dillinger, to get to see him face to face, after those events in the Grid was just embarrassing.

She bumped into him in the break time room where she wanted to fetch some coffee. He was standing there in front of the big shiny coffee machine, his back to her, waiting for his cup to be filled. He had one arm on the top of the machine, bowing over that thing as if possessing it. And as his cup was filled he just remained standing there, drinking his coffee in slow sips, seeming somehow contemplated, wasn't moving away and therefore blocking the access to the machine unintentionally. But Judith was stuck within her embarrassment and didn't dare speak to him, didn't dare to even move.

_That's silly!_ She scolded herself. _Just move over there!_

She had never been somehow afraid of Dillinger. He was mean, yes. And it was quite hard to work with him for he was dismissive and emotionless, often sarcastic and cutting. And she probably would never forget how he had spurned her so coldly, back then. But she had enough self confidence and composure to be above Dillinger's meanness.

But now, with those intimate memories in her head, still feeling an aftertaste of Darek's touch on her flesh, she was like paralyzed within her shame. But she finally gave herself a push and moved towards the coffee machine 'cause she couldn't stand the thought of acting like an inhibited coward. Because that just wasn't her.

She was now right behind him, only a step away, he still covering the whole corner where the machine was standing, not noticing her.

"May I …" she said politely.

And Dillinger was turning around abruptly, seeming slightly startled.

At the sight of his face, his eyes, the same eyes that had been admiring her body in lust just a day ago, his lips, the same lips that had been kissing her allover, Judith felt her cheeks getting hot. And she was hoping Dillinger wouldn't notice.

"Oh! I'm sorry", he apologized, raising his hands defensively, let one small, dry smile glide over his lips and moved away with his cup.

Judith watched him leaving the room.

_No cuttings? No arrogant phrases? This seems to be a good day for Junior..._She was thinking to herself.

Later that day she had another encounter with him.

She was sitting on her desk in front of her computer, working on some important and quite challenging and complex programming.

Dillinger appeared behind her, looking over her shoulder at the screen, bowing over that close she could smell a whiff of his exquisite eau de toilet. She had to stop typing for a moment for another rush of embarrassment was arousing in her body.

"Nice work" was his short, plain, but appreciative comment, not a trace of the usual sarcasm in his words. And what astounded Judith the most about his honest praise was the fact that Dillinger hardly ever gave praise to his employees. For he considered himself the most talented programmer around, and praising others was just beneath him.  
>And just as Judith was muttering some bashful words of thank, Dillinger disappeared without saying anything further. She turned around, watched him heading his office and then was out of sight.<p>

_What the hell…? _

Shaking her head, she turned to her screen again and continued her work. And suddenly a thought came to her mind, an idea, fascinating and shocking at the same time: What if Dillinger had created Darek for her? What if Darek was the only way for Dillinger to express feelings he wasn't able to express in real life?

First she was totally captivated by this possibility, even touched, for it would – if true – reveal some kind of an emotional side in Dillinger she wouldn't ever expected he could have.  
>But the more she was thinking about it the less she liked it. As wonderful as her little sensual encounter in the Grid had been, she would have preferred it if the real Dillinger would show feelings to her than just coming up with some kind of a virtual substitute to compensate his own emotional inabilities. Or at least be a nicer human being during their working hours…<p>

S_upposing_ that she was right…For it was only an idea. Probably nothing more than wishful thinking …

However… She probably would never know. Because she would do the hell to ask Dillinger about such a thing. She didn't dare to imagine his reaction in case she wasn't right!  
>But maybe she just had to make the best out of those events, had to take them as a new beginning, a hint, a gift, a chance. A little light at the end of a tunnel.<p>

She sighed, feeling tired and slightly distracted with all these moving thoughts running wild in her head. She felt like she couldn't concentrate on her work anymore. She needed a break.

She was heading for the break time room once more. And this time she was somehow hoping to meet Dillinger.

A trace of challenge was in the air…


	2. Firewall

_Personal note:_

_I have to admit that I know NOTHING about computers and what a programmer actually does during his workday. So forgive me the fact that I tried to avoid going into details about the parts happening in the office and during the characters workday actions and so on. (It's hard enough to write in English 'cause I'm not a native speaker..._ LOL)

_And forgive me also if I wrote anything wrong or anything that may sound naiv about all the ENCOM business leadership etc stuff. It was already very confusing to me figuring out what a chairman actually is or a_ _CEO or whatever. 'cause in German those terms have a slightly different meaning. And I don't really get that whole topic in my language LOL So please turn a blind eye while reading those parts. ;)_

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Firewall<p>

It was lunch break. Judith was in the cafeteria, standing in the row, tablet in hand, step by step moving forward.

There was no one of her workmates standing near her she could chat with, so she took the time to brood over Darek. Again… As if she hadn't wasted enough time already with scratching her mind about him… But she couldn't think about something else than the possible connections between Darek and Dillinger.

One thing was for sure: Darek had resurrected her feelings for Dillinger. He had breathed new life into emotions which had been almost death.  
>But what now? If Darek really was Dillinger's creation, dedicated to her as a gift, maybe even a recompense for being mean, what was the sense in all of this? Was Dillinger now suddenly interested in her as well, but too proud to maybe loose his face by being rejected by her and therefore waiting for her to make the first step? If that was true then he was either blind or completely unreceptive for her charms. Because she <em>did <em>give him signals. Plenty of them. A charming smile here, a warm word there, but causing no effect. He was cold as ice it seemed, never returning her smile, never looking at her the way a man should look at a woman he was attracted to. It was the same like two years ago when she showed interest in him while he was doing nothing but giving her the could shoulder.

She was pretty. That wasn't the problem, sure not. She was the kind of woman who possessed natural, genuine beauty which was shining through even without make up or nice clothes or haircuts. She had charms, was intelligent and attractive, slender, but with the curves in all the right places.

More than once she had thought about Dillinger might be gay… Gay, but aware of her feelings for him, feeling sorry about that and therefore had created a straight virtual love-machine for her…

_Oh please stop that!_ She scolded herself, for she knew that thinking about all of this would only cause her endless frustrations, well knowing she wouldn't get answers anyway.

She was finally sitting at a table, eating, but her disobedient thoughts were still endlessly circling around the same one topic.  
><em>I<em> _need some distraction_… she decided, looking out for anyone of her workmates. The only one she spotted was Dillinger. So much for distraction…  
>He was standing at the counter, paying something that looked like a sandwich from afar. But he wasn't eating at the cafeteria. He never was. As if it was beneath him to have lunch with his inferiors…<br>He passed the tables, hastily, greeting no one, looking at no one, just heading for the exit, probably for his office.

As he walked towards her, for she was sitting right on the edge of the table rows, she took her chance and dared to hold him up, waving and smiling at him. "Hi there! Want to take a seat?" She pointed at the free chair opposite to her.

He just slowed down his pace a little, but didn't stop, letting a dry, strained, put-on smile glide over his lips and said while passing her: "No, thanks. "

Judith shook her head. She had never met someone that cold and off-putting, even unsocial. And she doubted that it was possible to ever get through to him at all.

_What shall I do, Junior, to get your attention? Should I wear a skirt that short it only just covers my ass, sitting on your desk begging for some overtime? _Sure not… She wasn't that kind of woman. But she had to admit that thinking about this did turn her on somehow.

She sighed. _Why do I have feelings for you at all? Why, for heaven's sake?_

* * *

><p>The rest of the day was filled with work and pressure and problems. And Dillinger was running in and out of his office, always busy, always hassled, always reprimanding someone who wasn't doing his job – the way <em>he <em>wanted it to be done.

Judith had the luck being very good at her job. On one hand this was offering her more chances and more interesting, more challenging work, but on the other hand she had also to accept the responsibility. And had to make some sacrifices as well. Such as freetime… It was nearly eight o' clock now and she still was at ENCOM, the only one left in the open-plane office of their department.

The overtime she had made in the last few days was mainly caused by the new task she had to work on. "EN-CORE", a very important, innovative new software project. And a very complex one too… Not enough of that, there was also a certain lack of clarity in this whole project Dillinger had entrusted her with. She knew that he considered her has his best employee – although he had never told her that personally – but maybe he had put a little too much trust in her this time…  
>There was no doubt she was the best one to handle this project. Besides Dillinger himself she was the fastest, the keenest, the most talented of the software design team. But yet there were still some essential elements which had to be revised and okayed by Dillinger himself.<p>

_He left me more or less a construction kit! _ She was thinking to herself, looking at the screen, slightly shaking her head. _Why did he give me this? Actually this is his job…  
><em>And it was not the first time she suspected that he was heavily overworked…

She sighed and leant back, facing the fact that she was stuck, that she had to talk to Dillinger about how to go on. So she sent an instant message via the internal messaging system to the computer in his office. He wasn't answering. She was waiting... and waiting…

Nothing.

But she wanted to clarify that right now! Overtime was okay, but she wanted to spend it on something useful. Not just on sitting around and waiting for Mr. Edward Dillinger Jr. to condescend to answer her messages! So she stood up, heading for his office. And in the minute she wanted to knock on the door, Alan Bradley was stepping out, nearly running into her. She had completely forgotten about him having a conversation with Dillinger!

"Oh! I'm sorry!" she said.

Alan smiled at her. "No problem. " Then he made an inviting gesture towards Dillinger's office and said: "Go ahead. He's all yours. "

She returned Alan's warm smile and then stepped into the room. And in an instant she noticed that Dillinger was in a bad mood. A very bad mood… She saw it in the way his furrowed brows were leaving dark shadows around his eyes, his jaw was constantly tensing and he had his lips pressed together, their corners slightly pointing downwards.  
>He was standing in front of the wide floor-to-ceiling window of his spacious, luxurious office, arms crossed, looking at her as if she was an unwanted intruder. The moonlight was spreading a cold, pale light on his face, creating sharp shadows on every part unlit, making his features appear even sharper.<p>

"What is it?" he growled dryly.

Without ducking or showing the slightest trace of intimidation, for she was just tired of letting herself being offended by his manner, she spoke to him in a firm, calm voice: "There is something I wanted to discuss with you about EN-CORE. Could you please take a look at – "

"Can we just stop talking about work for a second?" Dillinger snarled at her.

Judith froze, taking a deep breath, maintaining her composure, although feeling the childish, impulsive urge to just turn around on her heels and going off in a huff with some kind of a sharp answer on her lips. But she was too grown up and too professional to lose her temper.  
>But yet her voice was as dry as dry could be as she replied: "In this case I can go home for you don't need me here anymore", attending to leave his office.<br>To her self she was thinking, with bitterness in her heart: _You stupid asshole… When ever I _do_ show interest in talking about something else than work you are blocking me!_

"Wait!" he held her back, the intonation of his words a severe commanding. "Are you going to Charley's for a drink afterwards, you and your workmates?" He asked, his tone not changing a nuance.

Judith was slightly puzzled.

"Erm… I don't think so. There's no one here anymore…"

"Well _I am_!" he remarked sternly, spreading his arms, as if she had insulted him by not counting him.

She was too perplexed to be upset by his tone.

_Charley's?  
><em>Never, not a single evening in those two years she was working for ENCOM, she had ever witnessed him joining his inferiors for a drink at Charley's, the bar just around the corner where she and her fellow employees often went to after work. And although she really wasn't in the mood to spend an evening with a highly frustrated Dillinger, she felt like this was an event just _too_ bizarre and exotic to miss; Dillinger, drinking a beer in a dim-lit, scruffy pub. She just _had_ to experience this. So she agreed.

And there she was, sitting at the bar, Dillinger next to her. What an odd situation. For a moment she had to think about her encounter with Darek as he joined her at the bar in the Grid. But this was just too different to think about similarities very long. This was reality. This was a very tired looking, pale skinned Dillinger with rings under his eyes and slightly tousled hair, the palms of his hands clenched around the beer glass as if it was a hot cup of tea.

What had made him asking her to join him, showing such exposure, such frailty to her? He, who was always dead keen on showing impeccability and perfection in his appearance? She had to hold back herself from interpreting this as some kind of affection, 'cause thoughts like this would just lead to nowhere.

What now?  
>What should they talk about? Their private life? Their hobbies? She couldn't imagine Dillinger to have any hobbies. What kind of hobbies would that be? She couldn't think of anything fitting… Some images were coming to her mind: Dillinger doing jigsaw puzzles… Dillinger baking cupcakes… Dillinger singing in a Gospel choir … Dillinger doing Nordic Walking… She couldn't prevent a chortling laugh arising in her throat.<p>

Dillinger looked at her, slightly miffed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing…" she grinned, shaking her head.

"Funny to drink a beer with your boss, eh?"

"Um…yeah… if it's the first time after more than two years; yes, then I assume it's funny."

He raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of his beer. "I'm not that type of guy hanging around in bars. I have better things to do."

"So... what are we doing here then?"

He glanced at her, slightly piercing. "I don't know. How about getting drunk?" he answered, in his voice a trace of defiance.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea. It's Tuesday…" Judith responded, drinking two sips.

"I have an agenda of my own. I don't need anybody to tell me what day it is," Dillinger said in return.

There it was again, that intense urge to just walk away from him. Maybe even pouring her beer on his head? Oh hell, yes! But Judith was just too curious about what Dillinger's intention to get drunk was all about. Maybe he would _talk_ if that happened.

So she kept calm.

For some moments he was just sitting there, sipping his beer, staring into space, remaining silent.

Beginning to get bored, Judith made several attempts to start some light conversation, but Dillinger just didn't respond to it.  
>And she was just about to regret this whole waste of time, decided to leave as soon as Dillinger had drank out his beer – his second one already – , as he suddenly grumbled out of nowhere: "Damn Flynn bloke!" and then shook his head in a gesture of disgust, poured the rest of his beer down his throat, almost aggressively.<p>

_Ah! That's how the wind blows_… She thought to herself, a little smirk in the corner of her mouth.

She knew that he hadn't much to laugh since Sam Flynn had decided to step out from being just the controlling interest shareholder and to actually lead ENCOM. Dillinger had a hard time working under him, someone who was even younger than him, taking his orders, having to be behind all of his decisions. For his style of leadership and of running a company was totally opposite to Dillinger's business philosophy.

"Know what?" he said to Judith, a bitter smile on his lips. "Flynn now definitely wants to make Alan his assistant manager! Not enough that he's the goddamn chairman…" He shook his head again, taking another fervent sip of his beer as if wanting to swallow his anger with it.

In a way Judith could understand him. From workmates of her who where working for ENCOM much longer than herself she knew that when Richard Mackey still was chairman, and Sam Flynn wasn't interested in leading the company, even less to make important decisions, Dillinger had quite good options to once get a higher position than he had now. And she also knew that Dillinger was after the assistant manager's post since ever, even had his eyes on becoming complete control over ENCOM like his father once.

Maybe he wanted to proof everyone that he was able to do this, without becoming a criminal, like his father. Maybe he wanted to whitewash his name. Inconceivable frustrations he must bare now that everything had chanced for him…

"That has a smell of nepotism," he stated with grim certainty.

Judith furrowed her brows, a little surprised about the irrationality of his argumentation, probably 'caused by the amount of alcohol he had knocked back already, but maybe revealing also a childish side of him which he usually held covered under his cool, rational behavior.

"I don't think so. It would be rather unprofessional of Flynn to give him this post just because of matters of friendship, wouldn't it? Not to mention the huge amount of experience Alan already - "

Dillinger's eyes were flashing at her grimly, interrupting her sentence by saying: "I don't give much on the _professionalism _of an unreliable daydreamer who prefers to do motorcycling and skydiving!"

"Remember what he did to OS-12…" she dared to argue, grinning unseen while taking a sip, feeling she could get away with it because he was drunk.

"_Remember_ how I handled it!" he replied, defiantly. "He's just a kid who can hack! He knows _nothing _about leading a company! He's unable and incompetent!"

"Well … he has Alan at his side, so…"

"Both of them are not the right people for this! With their way of leading, they will run ENCOM into the ground sooner or later."

"The company has realized 3% profit last year…"

"With my way of leading we could make even 8%, believe me!"

"And for the sake of what? Less salary for the lower inferiors? Higher prices for our products? Why not heading for a more social way of leading a company?"

"That's just not how business works!" Was his last statement.

And their discussion subsided into silence.

"And I thought you didn't want to speak about work…" Judith said after a few moments and looked at him, smiling a little cheeky in the corner of her mouth.

Dillinger furrowed his brows, slightly peeved, but too drunk by now to be really upset. "Well then… Do you have another topic to offer?"

She kept her eyes fixing on his.

_How about Darek?_

And for a moment Judith thought she was spotting something like fear flaring up in Dillnger's eyes, as if he just had read her mind. Or was it only her imagination? Whatever, he broke their eye contact, drank the rest of his beer in one go and ordered a new one.

"How about some virtual reality?" Judith asked him.

Dillinger coughed and brushed his wet stubbly upper lip with the back of his hand. "What…?"

Judith grinned, pointing to the back of the bar where a few arcade games were put in a row.

"_ArcWars_. One of ENCOM's classics. Ever played it?"

"No! I'm a programmer, not a gamer!" Dillinger stated as if it was beneath him to play video games.

Judith slipped from her barstool and grabbed her glass. "Well… there's a first time for everything, "she said, encouragingly smiling at him, calling on him to follow her. Dillinger rolled with his eyes and conceded, unwillingness in his every gesture.

They were doing the two-player mode. And he lost every single game… Five of them so far. Judith was highly amused about that, but didn't show it.  
><em>Well, Junior. You have to face the fact that you're not perfect in <em>everything_ you do!_

With every new game they started his determination to win was growing. Seeming to have quite an intoxication, he ordered one beer after another. Obviously not a good idea… And as his reactions were slowly fading, his frustration was growing instead, and he began to hit the machine, shouting and swearing at it, Judith decided to interrupt this gaming session. She wasn't quite sure if she should feel embarrassed or amused to witness a side of Dillinger she didn't know existing. But she felt like it was better to put a stop to it before it might got _really_ shameful.

"It's late. I'm going home", she said. He glanced at her with his lips pressed together, slightly huffy. His once neatly groomed bangs were nothing but wet strands anymore, hanging tousled into his forehead.

But he didn't contradict her. Probably to somehow save his face. As if there was much left to save…

So he called himself a taxi and she did the same. And before he got into the car he held her up, telling her urgently, in a gesture meant to be warning but only went out appearing pathetic: "Work and free time should be treated separately, understood, Judith?"  
>She nodded, and off he went.<p>

_He doesn't want me to gossip,_ she interpreted his words. _He must have every trust in me._

Should she feel flattered about that? She didn't know…

* * *

><p>The next day.<p>

Judith just arrived at her desk, not a minute too late, changing some words of greeting with her workmate Gloria and was just about to boot the computer, as Dillinger was walking towards them, in a severe hurry it seemed and slightly stressed. "Come on, come on! No time for chatting! We have a lot of work to do today!" He ordered them, clapping his hands as if they were school kids

"Asshole", Gloria mumbled between her clenched teeth as Dillinger had disappeared around a corner.

Judith probably would have been upset, if there weren't some things she was highly amused about. _Maliciously _amused. Things like Dillinger's slightly swollen eyes, his pale skin, the not so well trimmed edges of his beard and the way he was stroking his forehead whenever he felt unobserved.

_Are we having a hangover, Junior?_

And for the rest of the day, when ever he was near, she started silently whistling the melody of the song "Tuesday Afternoon". She didn't know if he noticed it. She didn't even know if he was familiar with this song at all. But she was deliciously enjoying herself.

Later that day Dillinger had to lead a conference, a very important one with all of the board members. Judith had to help him preparing his presentation.

And there she was in the boarding room, about fifteen minutes before the board members would arrive, checking the data, which Dillinger had uploaded to the server of the boarding room's desk computer, and preparing their proper transfer to the presentation screen.

Suddenly she realized: There was a mistake in Dillinger's data. A _huge _mistake.

_He's about to make a complete fool out of himself!_ Judith stated, shaking her head_. In front of all the board members! In front of Alan and Flynn! Oh Junior… What have I told you about boozing on a_ _week day?  
><em>But she kept cool and made a decision, very quick, very professional; to fix the mistake. And she succeeded. Nearly two minutes before the conference would begin.

Suddenly Dillinger was charging into the boarding room, breathing hard, his skin even paler.

"There is a mistake!" He panted, looking behind him quickly then closing the door, hurrying towards Judith.

"There is no mistake", Judith said calmly and stood up, slightly smiling, starting to spread handouts on every board member's seat.

"What?" Dillinger furrowed his brows, shook his head and then was heading for the main computer, already beginning to operate the keyboard. "There's a mistake and I have to fix it _immediately!"_

"There is NO mistake!" Judith repeated, her smile now broad and complacent, her voice severe and full of confidence while she stopped his typing by giving his one arm a brief, soft, interrupting touch. "Not anymore…"

"But…"

"Everything is ready," Judith confirmed, winking, giving him a warm smile.

He just remained standing there, not saying anything further. And Judith tried hard not to giggle at this sight; Dillinger, speechless for one time, his eyes big behind his glasses.

The first board members were now arriving, and from one moment to another Dillinger's appearance changed. Full of fascination Judith was watching his transformation. Suddenly he was all cool and down-to-earth again, not showing a trace of the desperation Judith just had witnessed.

_You know how to wear a mask…_She was thinking to herself.

And she was wondering if she might was the only one who he allowed to look behind it.


	3. Reward

Chapter 3: Reward**  
><strong>

Every employee at ENCOM had a so called Memo Pad which they had to carry with them the whole day through. It was a personal, electronic object nearly in the size of an iPod, and was mainly used to feed every employee quickly with important information regarding their work such as actualities, dates, advises, instructions etc which were updated daily by the superiors.

There was also an application included called Grid Access Account. Through this app the superiors were handling the unique bonus system of offering Grid access. For every achievement of an employee that a superior considered as reward-worthy he could give away a "Grid Point", which was filling one of five fields on this app's account. Once the whole account was full, the employee automatically had gained access to the Grid. They just had to make out a date with the Grid Operating Department so that they could arrange the transfer. And the collecting of Grid Points could begin all over again.

Judith's account was full. The fields were blinking, invitingly. She just had gained her last Grid Point from Dillinger. For the outstanding act of saving his ass…  
>She smiled, looking at her Memo Pad. Apart from truly deserving her last Grid Point, she seemed to get these points more easily and more often than ever… Well… she wasn't complaining. She would meet Darek again. For the second time now. She was excited. And she was in need…<p>

_Maybe tomorrow_… She was thinking to herself, heading for the Grid Operating Department to clarify the date.

* * *

><p>The next day.<p>

Same dark blue room.

Darek was already there, leaning to one of the windows, looking over to her, waiting for her to approach. He had his suit opened down to his navel, entrancingly showing her his smooth, silk-like, shiny skin. His gaze, catching hers like a light in the dark, was pure temptation and his smile was promising the sweetest delights.  
>Everything about him was a delicious offer, a present for her to take, to enjoy, a delicacy to satisfy her hunger.<p>

As she reached him she said, smiling in the corner of her mouth: "One day I have to go down there, I guess…" pointing to the Grid below.

"But that's not today", Darek replied, pulling her near for a sweet, hot welcome kiss. "We have better to do…" His breath in her ear, his tongue following.

Although a little distracted by his tickling caresses, she mentioned some new object in the room. In the back of it, almost hidden in the shadows.

"A bed?" she said, slightly surprised but yet amused.

Darek grinned. "Yes. It's for you."

"How kind of you."

Darek's voice was low, soft, but with a trace of a rough, dark tone underneath as he whispered: "Since my loving happens to make you so weak you can't stand right on your legs anymore, I thought it's much more comfortable for you to have a place where you can rest, _after_. It's much safer… For my intention is to make you even weaker this time. To love you until you can't move a limb anymore…until you _beg_ me to stop…"

He took her face in his hands, looking deep in her eyes, invading her with his fiery, desirous gaze, and she felt the two purple fingers of his right hand pulsing hot to her cheek as if in anticipation. Her heartbeat grew faster, fluttering in her throat like a little wild bird, and somehow she didn't know if it was in fear or in excitement.

After he had led her to the bed, a big, elliptic ocean of shiny blue sheets, he told her to lie down. And as she rested there, stretched out on the velvety softness, he placed his body upon hers, beginning to kiss her passionately while his hand was tracing the curves of her body. She received his kiss longingly, responding to it, enjoying, tasting every lick, every stroke of his tongue as if quenching a thirst far too long burning.

"Did you have a hard day?" he breathed between two kisses while his hand was in her crotch, finding her most sensitive spots even through the material of her suit.

"Yes…" she responded, not really noticing what he was saying. He could have read her the stock market report instead.

"A long, hard workday…?" His kisses tickling along her throat.

"Yeah…"

"You earned yourself some relaxation, didn't you…?" He opened her suit a little, only so far he could free her breasts from the tight clothing, stroking them gently as if touching a delicate precious.

"Oh yes…"

She felt his rough, slightly scratching cheeks in the valley between her breasts and his warm, wet kisses on her skin.  
>He went on to open her suit, his kisses following just behind by caressing every inch of freshly exposed skin. Her suit lost its shape, gliding from her every body part, ending up lying under her like a silky blanket. And now entirely freed from it she spread her legs to his caresses assembling in her lap. His head between her tensing thighs, her fingers clenched into his hair, she let his fervent licks make her reach her climax, more intense and satisfying she ever experienced it with this kind of caressing. So intense she had to scream out her lust to prevent it from just bursting in her chest.<p>

As the quivering of her body and her moans had died away, Darek was bending over her again, grabbing her shoulder and urging her with gentle demand to turn around, to lie on her front side. And as she did he moved over her back, embracing her tight, his body heavy on hers. She felt his hot crotch pulsating against her backside, leaving her yearning for him to invade her.

"Want to try something new?" he whispered daringly on her neck.

"Oh yes please…" she sighed, lust-drunken, and before she even had finished answering, his fingers had already began to caress body parts which weren't supposed to be caressed. But it was so delightful, she didn't care. And as he entered her, little by little, gentle and caring, she didn't feel ashamed for one single second.  
>It was hot, breath taking and way too intense to bear for a long time. Her fingers were grasping harshly into the blanket, her back bending to his pushes so slow and tender and imbuing and reaching deep into her body, managing somehow to not hurt her, making her shudder from sizzling sensations with even the slightest moves he did. And as he wrapped one arm around her waist, reaching her lap with his hand, beginning to stroke her most sensitive spot along with the increasing rhythm of his intense, delightful thrusts, she let go, giving into the hot, quick orgasm he was forcing out of her body.<p>

Her knees were still trembling, her shoulders shivering as she was lying on her back again, breathing fast, her heart pounding in her chest like crazy, while she was looking up to Darek; his eyes still glowing of hunger and promises and never fading energy.

He had his hip placed between her thighs, remaining like this for some moments without moving, just touching her, letting her feel, enjoy the hot, hard middle of his body pulsating against her sensitive flesh. Waiting for her to want him again, kissing her, caressing her wet skin, _making_ her wanting him again.

Then he began to move a little. Slight, sweet, seductive moves. And Judith, a slave to her lust and his seducement, was bending her weakened legs in response, was wrapping them around his waist, inviting him to enter. And as he did she grabbed his hips in blissful delight, following, moving towards his thrusts. And while his moves were getting more and more intense, were getting faster, hotter, were bringing her gradually to the edge of her climax, and she was looking at him, his face beautified with lust, she had one thought arising in her mind. Just one bitter-sweet thought: If it only was Ed making love to her... If it only was him and not a virtual surrogate.

And then there was light and rapture and sweetness flushing away every thought for those few seconds of absolute thoughtlessness, this little moment of heaven.

* * *

><p>She had been sleeping. For a few moments only.<p>

_What a good idea … that bed_. She was thinking as she woke up. Darek was still there, lying next to her, looking at her with a sweet and loving expression on his face, caressing her cheek, stroking her hair. She got lost in his eyes for some moments.

"Darek…" she spoke to him after a while. "Can I ask you one thing?"

He softly smiled. "You can ask me anything. "

"Can you love? I mean, can you _feel_ love?"

"I wasn't programmed to feel love", he responded. "I don't know if love can be programmed at all. That's a concept only you Users share. And even Users don't seem to be able to explain this concept." His smile was growing to a slight grin. "So why should they be able to virtualize love?"

Judith returned his smile, caressing his arm. "How right you are."

"But I can _show_ you as much love and affection you want", Darek said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"That's not the same."

"Why?" he replied, a little defiantly. "What's the difference? I can give you more love and more time and more admiration, more devotion, any human being could ever give you. I'm able to do everything you want."

"But it wouldn't be real."

"Nothing about me is real. But tell me: Does it feel unreal to you when we make love? Does it feel _virtual_ when I touch you? When I kiss you?" In a gesture of demonstrating his hand was gliding down her body, caressing her while he was moving closer to her.

"No…" she had to admit, almost too distracted by his touching to speak further. "But… The difference is your own will. I want you to _choose _to love me. If you're only doing what I want you to do, then you're nothing but a slave."

In a rushed move he shoved his body upon hers. "I'm not a slave", he stated, neither angry nor upset, for he wasn't programmed to show any negative emotion. But yet the sound of his voice was strangely dry.

"I can show you my own will if this is what you want." He grabbed her wrists, fixing them over her head with one hand, forcing her legs to spread with the other one, then he shoved his hip between her thighs.

"Darek…" Judith said calmly. "Don't you understand? You're doing this because I want you to! You're reading my mind, my wishes."

"You never know… Maybe I _have_ a will of my own. Maybe you _should_ be afraid of me…" He grabbed one of her legs, wrapping it around his waist.

Judith's hands were gliding from his shoulders to his neck and into the soft strands of his full hair, grasping gently into it. "No I'm not. You couldn't ever harm me."

"And how do you know…?" he asked, defiantly, teasingly, his tone a little rough, while he was increasing his forceful touch a little, breathing hot on her neck, licking it up and down.

"Because I think you've been created for me as some kind of a gift or recompense."

"Is this so…?" His kisses were wandering towards her chest.

"Can_ you_ tell me?"

"I 'm afraid, I can't …"

Judith grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her: "Do you know anything about your creator?"

"No. All I know is how to please you," he whispered, his circuitry changing from violet to dark purple.

"And this you know so well…" she sighed, wrapping her arms around him as he began to love her yet again.


	4. Sundown

Chapter 4: Sundown

Dillinger had to go on a business trip for a week. And he had selected Judith to be his substitute for the duration of his absence, handing over all the responsibility to her, full of trust and certainty.

Judith was more than willing to take on this task. Not least because she really wanted to help him with all the work and felt the need to take a little from the burden of this post off of his shoulders.  
>She had always thought that he was heavily overworked and really needed some kind of a substitute or an assistant in general. Not that he would ever concede that fact... For not only was he a loner, he also preferred to handle things on his own because he didn't put much confidence in others. But Judith, however, he honored with his trust, that rare gift.<p>

* * *

><p>It was the evening before Dillinger's departure.<p>

He just had called her into his office to give her the last few instructions. He stood behind his huge desk; the skyline and the sundown in his back. Without wasting a second he began to explain the functions of his desk computer. Judith had always been curios about how it was working, and so she was listening to him, watching him, with huge interest.

It was a shiny, heavy, room-dominating, black, octagonal desk, the area of the screen – taking up about a third of the whole desk – slightly lifted for a better sight, even more lift-able to the user's liking.

He booted the computer and immediately it got strewn with blue and white glowing windows and signs and types. Keeping his upright position he began to operate and to explain. His hands were gliding and whirring and tapping over the blank surface, the keyboard and the touch screen as if he was playing a sonata on some kind of a futuristic instrument.  
>Judith noticed, smiling unseen, that he seemed to show more extroversion and passion by operating his computer than in any other situation. But she liked watching him. <em>Enjoyed <em>watching him.

Judith's wide range of skills also included a quick uptake as well as a keen memory and the ability to multi-task. And therefore she took the liberty to enjoy Dillinger's sight surreptitiously from time to time while her brain was automatically absorbing and processing the information she got from him.

What a treat for the eyes he was … So close to her now, so vivid, so full of motion, so stunningly gorgeous. The exquisite fabric of his pants tightening around his buttocks as he was bending over the desk… The shiny black silk of his vest stretching over his slender back…The fine fluff of hair on his sinewy forearms, immersed with backlight from the sundown, suggesting a fine, bright film along the outline of his skin…

She held her arms crossed behind her back, her hands nearly twitching in urge to touch. It was torture. Pure, sweet torture…  
>Her stealthy gaze was following the wiry tendons of his long, lean neck, diving into his shiny dark hair, wandering along his sideburns down to the well trimmed stubble on his cheeks, on his jawline and his upper lip, noticing some solitary silver stubbles scattered here and there.<p>

She was smiling enraptured.

Darek might was perfect. But Ed was beautiful…

And his scent… She had to hold back hard from closing her eyes, bowing over to him and just drinking it in, that fresh, unobtrusive, sweet and spicy fragrance.

She didn't know if it was because of the sundown, flooding the room and lighten Dillinger's face with a soft orange glow, making his features appear warm and alluring, why she suddenly felt so high-spirited, felt like something had to happen, just something.  
>All she knew was that letting this beautiful sundown just pass without giving into its magic, seemed like a waste.<p>

She was now daringly close to him, even bending over to him a little, while he still was continuing his instructions. And as he finished explaining and straightened up again, his face was only half an arm length away from hers.

He was looking into her face, just one blink too long for common eye contact. And she returned his gaze, held it, breathless, moveless, didn't dare to even blink, fearing he could break that sweet, exciting ban.

And there was something in his eyes, something slowly revealing, something soft. Something like surrender.

He moved a little closer, only a tad, leaning forward to her just an inch, then he froze, hesitant somehow, as if unsure. And she brought her face nearer to his, encouragingly. And he moved again. Then she closed her eyes for his lips were touching hers.

What a warm, soft, sweet touch…

She heard his breath, _felt _his breath, and for this short little moment of sharing closeness for the first time it was the most beautiful thing she has ever felt.

A brief withdraw by him, a short glance at her, then he kissed her again. His tongue met hers for a single stroke, as if gingerly tasting, and then for another one, and another, causing sweet electricity arising in her belly, flashing down her lap and up to her chest, reaching her heart with a blaze of rapture. And suddenly the sunlight was nothing compared to the brightness and warmth she felt while kissing him.

His hand caressed her cheek, glided along her neck to her shoulder, staying there, grabbing her gently.  
>And her hand reached his chest, slightly brushing the silky clothe, wandering over to the folds of his rolled up shirt sleeve, sliding further to his forearm, feeling fine fluff tickling under her fingertips.<p>

And then the moment was gone. It seemed to fade with the sun finally diving down the horizon, leaving dim twilight behind, leaving Ed's face cold and grey again. He turned away from her, hastily closing all the open windows on his computer.

"That's… erm… all you need to know," he said, dryly. "If you have any further questions you can call me while I'm away. You can finish work now."

_Was he throwing her out of his office?_

In a last attempt to bring back that sweet moment Judith asked him: "Would you like to go out for a drink afterwards?" And she sweetened her words with a warm smile and an unspoken invitation underneath.

Ed looked at her for the duration of three, four heartbeats as if thinking about her offer.

"No", he finally said, shaking his head, looking away from her, looking down at his desk, operating some functions. Or pretending to…

"I have things to do. And tomorrow I have to get up early." His tone remained sterile, and not the smallest smile was referring to the intimacy and tenderness they just had shared.

"Okay…" She headed for the door. But as she reached it she turned to him again.

"Are you rejecting me?"

Ed seemed to be slightly puzzled by her straightness.

"No, I'm not", he said. "But I really have to work now." His attention was focusing on his computer again.

Judith closed the door behind her.

She didn't know if his dry confirm was already more than she could have wished for, and therefore should have been happy. Or if she should cry over his coldness...

* * *

><p>It was Monday, late evening. Judith was sitting in Ed's office looking at the desk computer, darkness around her, her face only lit by the light coming from the touch screen.<p>

She had finished work for today and actually was free to go home. But she was lost in thought. Ed had gave her his personal password, had entrusted her with the access to every function and every file on his computer.  
>Was it just an expression of trust? Was it a test for her to see if she would snoop around? Or was he intending her to snoop around? Wanting her to read in his computer like in an open book instead of letting her read in his heart which he held locked? Wanting her to find out about things he wasn't able to talk about face to face…?<br>Or was she just scratching her mind in vain? For a talented programmer like Ed would of course manage to lock files he didn't want to share, while still be able to give his password to someone else.

She didn't know. But one thing was for sure: No matter what his intention might was to entrust her with the insight to his computer, she would never snoop around. Would never open or try to open files which weren't required for her working process.

But yet she couldn't get rid of the thought – the stirring, tempting, sizzling thought – if there might was a file hidden somewhere in the depths of the computer's data base which called "Darek"…

* * *

><p>As this week was passing, Judith's workmates kept telling her, on and on, how relaxing it was with Dillinger being away, with having her as their boss. But she wasn't going into this talking behind his back. On the contrary; she backed him up. Not somehow emotional, risking to let leak out any hint that she had feelings for him, but neutral, like the professional worker she was.<p>

If he really deserved her support, she didn't know, for he seemed to do everything possible to increase the dislike people had for him. All she knew was that Ed was a lonely man. No matter if it was his own fault or not; she cared about it.

* * *

><p>Ed was back. It was Monday and he had overtaken his office again.<p>

The hopes that Judith had that he might would return with a better mood, were slowly but gradually fading. He seemed to be colder than ever. No word of thank or appreciation for her, truly, outstanding work during his absence. Just one another point on her Grid Access credit.

Although she didn't care much about awards for achievements at work – and she was well aware that Ed wasn't a man of great praising speeches – she would have appreciated it to hear at least some nice personal words from him. But there was nothing. Not even a word about their relationship. If there was one at all…

Much later that day. Almost evening.

Judith had some work to discuss with Ed so she was heading for his office.

"Something troubling you?" She asked in a warm gesture of caring as she closed the door behind her.

He was indeed brooding heavily over something very unpleasant. Faint but noticeable nuances in his face were telling her so. Either was she the only one with whom he shared his mood or she was the only one who could actually read his face. Fact was that he only seemed to show frailty when he was alone with her.  
>If that was a burden or a gift she was about to figure out…<p>

"Nothing I can't handle," was the short, dry answer he fobbed her off with as he turned to the window, looking down to the city, repellently.

"Sure?" she tried it again, a gentle tone in her voice, walking towards him. "I can offer you some time if you want to talk about it."

He turned his face to her, his brows furrowed. "Do you really want me to start a _women's talk_? About emotions and stuff? Are you kiddin' me?" A brief, dry, sarcastic smile was twitching his lips for a second.

That was too much.

Judith had always been keeping calm, keeping her composure, remaining tolerant and understandable. But that was rather much an insult. And now that they had shared the intimacy of a kiss, they could share just as well the intimacy of a heated argument, in her opinion.

"What is actually your problem?" she began, her voice composed, but yet raised and insistent. "Why do you always seem to take your anger out on me? Just tell me and we can get over it!"

He was looking out of the window again, answering her in a low, emotionless tone: "Just insert my former statement here."

She gasped.

Almost breathless from anger she spoke: "Tell me, _honestly_: Do you have feelings for me at all?"

"I do", he admitted. But he could have said "I don't" instead, the tone of his voice wouldn't have changed much.

"Then why don't you show me?"

"I'm just not the emotional kind of guy. Isn't that obvious by now?"

"That doesn't mean that you have to be an asshole instead!" she shouted and left his office, regretting her childish temper in the same moment she slammed the door behind her.  
>That was unprofessional. Maybe she even had to carry the consequences for talking to him like this. After all he was her superior.<p>

But he was about to break her heart.  
>And a heart in danger of being broken was not caring much about good manners, about rationality or responsibility. It was a weak, blinded little creature snapping around in trying to defense its life.<p>

* * *

><p>There were no consequences…<p>

There was just one thing happening after their argument. Three days later. Another point on her Grid Access Account… As she was looking at her Memo Pad she saw her credit full, blinking, ready to take her to the Grid once more for another tryst with Darek.

She could have thrown that thing away, shattering it right there on the floor, smashing it to pieces. What was he thinking? That he could right the wrongs with offering her cyber sex? That whole issue had now grown to rather perverted dimensions …

She had not been _entirely_ sure yet if Ed really had created Darek for her. Until that day. That couldn't be just coincidence. It was the only explanation for earning herself yet another Grid Point, for she had already gained one for being his substitute, only days ago. And she hasn't done something that remarkable in the meantime that it would have justified deserving such a reward again in such a short time. Did Ed really think she was not clever enough to make this connection? Or was he aware that she might put one and one together, but just didn't care?  
>That was either pathetic or completely arrogant…<p>

_Okay then, Ed!_ She was thinking to herself, defiant, bitter-hearted, grabbing her Memo Pad as if wanting to strangle it.

_If you want me to have sex with Darek then I will have sex with Darek! I'm going to fuck him till his bytes fall apart! Your fault to be not in his place!_

* * *

><p>He always knew just right what she wanted.<p>

Darek.

This time he was lying on the bed, writhing there, weakly, as if craving for her touch in debilitating desire, his suit opened at its front, his legs spread wide.

She sat on his lap, letting him remove her suit, nestling her yearning flesh on his hot hard shaft, taking him in, moving him to her liking, using him the way she felt like. She let him grab her backside, but it was she who was leading, who was indicating the rhythm. And he remained hard and willing, bearing her every shove, her every grasp, her every command.  
>Until she was fed up.<p>

Judith was resting, sitting on the edge of the bed, her stare million miles away, somewhere in the Grid landscape.

"Seems you're somehow …_ enraged_, Judith. Seems you needed to let off steam…" Darek was whispering on her neck, kneeing behind her. And she felt his lips stretching to a grin as he was kissing her.

"How attentive you are, Darek…" Judith replied, a little sarcastically.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Darek offered her, tenderly, interested. And Judith's heart was fluttering for the flash of one brief little moment. To hear this voice_, Ed's_ voice, speaking such caring words in a warm breath on her shoulder, was like a dream came true. For an instant she imagined it was him.  
>And then she began to tell Darek about Ed. It was strange, it was awkward, it was completely out of place. But it was a release.<p>

As she had finished, Darek commented, smirking: "Well, Judith… Looks like _he_ has his own will, and doesn't hold back to show it. And I thought you liked that…"

Judith sighed. "You know nothing about the feelings of us humans, do you?"

"No. They just don't seem logical to me."

"Let me tell you, Darek: Love is somehow like a virus. It invades your body, your whole system, overtakes every part of it, every cell. It makes you high with fever, but it also hurts you, wounds you, makes you sick and weak."

"I have quite an idea of it…"

His hands, just finished massaging her tensed shoulders, were gliding now under her arms, reaching her breasts, caressing them while breathing hot sighs into her ear as if getting aroused by touching her.

"He doesn't treat you right, Judith." His hands worked their way down to her lap, parting her legs, letting the fingers of both of his hands slip between them in the same moment his tongue slipped into the windings of her ear.

"You deserve better…"

Judith leant back her head, receiving his kisses on her throat, while his fingers were doing magic.

* * *

><p>A week later, evening.<p>

It was nearly seven o' clock. Judith and Ed were the last ones leaving their department. Without talking Ed was walking along the dim-lit corridor, Judith just half a step behind him.  
>He had been very quiet in the last few days. Not rude or mean, but neither he had been somehow warm or emotional. Just dry, sober, remote and distant, not picking up again their argument. Not doing or saying anything about the state of their relationship. And Judith herself was somehow caught in a phase of sobriety, of suppressing every emotion at the moment. For the work was currently very hard and stressful and she just had no energy left to spend it on disputing or discussing with Ed, or on trying to get through to him to find out where she was at with him. Besides this she just felt that it was his turn now. And she wouldn't lift a finger in this case unless he gave her any kind of a signal.<p>

The elevator door opened and they were stepping in. Ed pressed the button. Forty-five floors to go…

He wasn't speaking a single word. It could have been a stranger standing next to her.  
>She was watching the display with the numbers of the floors counting down. Forty-one… forty… thirty-nine… Taking her completely by surprise, he suddenly touched her cheek, forcing her face gently to turn to him. Then he kissed her, very soft and tender, but reserved somehow.<p>

The palms of his hands on her upper arms he looked at her then and spoke to her low, almost whispering, as if afraid anyone could hear him – but maybe just afraid of hearing himself: "I _won't ever _talk about emotions, Judith. That's nothing personal, nothing against you. But please understand it. Please _accept_ it."

Captured by his gentleness suddenly revealing, captured by his soft touch, his closeness, his deep gaze, she wasn't able to do anything else than to agree. There was something tender and honest and straight in his behavior she couldn't deny. And her heart, that silly, weak little thing, began to thump and to rejoice, despite the decision her mind had made, to try to restrain her feelings for Ed.  
>But yet she wasn't a naive girl anymore, yet she had pride and self-worth. And there were things even a tender kiss could not recompense.<br>So she spoke to him, friendly and warm, but insistent: "Okay, Ed. I accept it. But could you do just one thing for me in return?"

His whole body seemed to tense, his face freezing.

"Don't speak to me like this again… like you were in your office. And I'm not talking about emotions right now, I'm talking about _respect_."

Ed was looking at her motionless for a few seconds, seeming to think about if he should take this as an order.  
>All Judith got in the end was a quick, cramped nod. But for her it was enough. She was well aware that he wasn't someone who would ever fall on his knees to apologize.<br>He seemed to prefer offering virtual sex toys for reconciliation…

The elevator came to a stop and they were stepping out into the entrance hall. The security man behind his reception desk was greeting them friendly as they were passing by. Fresh night air and the sounds of the city were welcoming them as they left the ENCOM tower.  
>Ed was about to take the metro while she was heading for the bus station. And at the point where their ways were separating Judith held him up: "Ed. There's something I wanted to ask you."<p>

Again he seemed to freeze, every expression on his face turning to stone, his lips pressed together, his brows furrowed, but his eyes slightly widened. His whole body seemed to tense as if crying out a silent warning. Or a silent pleading?

"All these Grid Points…" Judith began, innocently. "Do you really think I deserve that much of them?"

"Yes I think so!" he replied in one breath, in _one word_ even, his voice a little husky. "Good night, Judith." And he turned away from her.


	5. Party

**** _First I wanted to say: THANK YOU reviewers ! I was so happy as I read your kind, encouraging words! Thank you so much :D What a joy to know that you like my story so far! And now have fun with the next chapter :3 ***_*

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Party<p>

Company celebrations at ENCOM… That was always fun to the extreme – since Sam Flynn was the boss. He knew how to keep his employees entertained and satisfied. He was young hearted and was considering his employees more as friends than as inferiors. And not least he just wanted to have fun himself. So there was no purpose, no deeper intention, behind his parties such as keeping the employees in a good mood so they were able to work harder, or making them identify themselves more with the company. He was just doing it for the sake of fun. And the employees loved his generous, extravagant and jolly parties.

So did Judith.

She just arrived on the top floor where the main banquet hall was, exited and with high spirits, stepping out of the elevator door, greeting some fellow employees standing there in the reception area.

Gloria was bouncing towards her in her high heels, a glass of champagne in her hand.

"Judith!" she was squealing enthusiastically. "You look so pretty! What a _lovely _dress!"

"Thanks", Judith smiled broadly, feeling her cheeks getting warmer, for the eyes of everyone near her were instantly flipping over to her.

She was wearing a low-cut, airy, dainty, delicate and formfitting purple dress reaching the middle of her thighs. The perfect length. Not that short it would have looked somehow revealing or salacious, but short enough to give the impression of sweet and lovely sexiness.  
>And her long, luxuriant, honey brown hair, usually tied up during work, she was wearing open for this evening and it was falling over her shoulders in shimmering waves.<p>

She knew that this dress really suited her as if made for her, and she had enough self-confidence to know how pretty she was. And although a lot of men were looking at her as she walked into the hall, it was just one certain man she wanted to attract. The only one for whom she had dressed up like this, with the intention to challenge, to tempt and to tantalize.

She was aware that it might was a bit primitive to fall back on this kind of woman's weapons, but it was a sinfully good feeling using them.

And maybe they were the last weapons left she could use to tear down Ed's firewall…

The hall was high and very spacious, divided in two areas. The whole external wall of the main area was just one wide window front with a well-spaced balcony outside. Inside there where big round tables and enough seats for everyone, an overfull buffet lining the right internal wall and a stage in the front where a live band was playing pop and rock songs while there was some space left for dancing.

In the back area – which was a separated from the main hall, almost a room of its own – Sam had arranged a colorful mix of different computer games, some old fashioned arcade games, some modern ones with projections on big screens, as well as some interactive fun and skill games. There was even a karaoke stage for everyone who dared to make a fool out of themselves.

Finally Judith saw him. Ed. He was standing at the buffet, a glass of red wine in his hand, sternly talking to some other board members, not giving the impression to have any fun. Maybe he was even talking about some work-related topics, Judith could imagine.

Provocatively she was heading his way.

"Some more champagne, Gloria?" she asked her workmate, standing now in front of the buffet, in the area where the drinks were served out, Ed about four steps to her left.  
>And as she walked away with two glasses of champagne she passed him, greeting him and his conversational partners with some hearty words and a warm, broad smile.<p>

Ed's facial expression as he saw her… honey to her heart. Warm, sweet, golden honey gliding down her throat, sugaring her inside, making her drunk with sizzling joy.

He was only showing subtle changes – his body freezing as if holding his breath, his eyes widening a little, his gaze resting on her much longer than a usual glance, even slightly following her out of the corner of his eyes, flashing down her entire body for a second – but yet it was enough for her to feel the sweetest satisfaction.  
>And lifted with high spirits she was embracing this evening, was diving into the fun and the light and the colors, feeling like a teen girl at her prom, but she didn't care. It was plain, pure, genuine fun.<p>

Where ever she was, if enjoying some food, if dancing to the live band's music, if joining some games or if just chatting with her workmates; she was always looking out for Ed, unobtrusively searching for his lean, edgy, striking shape in the crowd. And she realized with satisfaction that he always had his face turned to her, no matter where she was, no matter where _he_ was. And from that point on every thing she was doing, she was doing for him, knowing he was watching. Every smile, every step, every gesture, every turn of her neck, every sway of her hips, every single movement.

They were dancing, she and some of her fellow female workmates, playfully, while laughing and giggling and having a blast. And as Sam Flynn was suddenly joining them, starting to dance and to flirt quite offensively with Judith, she just thought: _Well,__ let__'__s __see__ what__ happens.  
><em>She didn't expect Ed to join. Sure not! He would never, and that she knew. She accepted and respected this part of his personality. But she was hoping he would at least fight for her, would try to catch her attraction, show his interest in her, would do just _something._

Soon she realized; she was wasting her time… Nothing was happening. Even more: Ed seemed to have disappeared.  
>Had she overdone her actions eventually? Her flirting, her making-him-jealous? She was afraid she had and suddenly felt sorry about that. And so she was leaving Flynn – although he was all nice and funny and charming – and started searching for Ed. Wanted to give him the attention he might doubted to deserve.<p>

She finally found him, outside, leaning to the balcony with his arms on the railing, looking down to the city. Judith smiled at this sight, for Ed wasn't the type of man who liked hanging around idly and enjoying some beautiful overview or a starry night sky.

"You don't seem to like such parties, do you, Ed?" she said in a soft tone as she was approaching him.

He straightened himself as he saw her, leaving his casual position. "Is it _that_ obvious?"

"It is to me." She gave him a warm smile and leant one elbow on the railing, putting down her glass of wine, letting her glance glide over the skyline.

"For me, this is nothing but a silly circus…" Ed was muttering, taking a sip of his Brandy. "All that nonsense, that drinking and gaming and fooling around. And pretending everyone is ones buddy. Can't stand it."

"Some people just call it: Having fun!" Judith grinned, raising her glass to him, taking a demonstratively delightful sip.

"Listen, Judith." Ed turned to her, his voice dry and sincere. "Maybe you should forget about me. I'm only going to disappoint you."

Her smile was fading.

"I have no idea what you're talking about", she answered him, feeling her heart beating faster with slight agitation. "But… those kisses … they weren't disappointing to me. Were they to you?"

She held his gaze, craving for him to answer.

"No", he said low. "The thing is; I'm not the charmer you are looking for. I'm not a _lady__'__s __man_, if you get what I mean." His voice was stone-cold, but there also seemed to sway a trace of bitterness underneath.  
>He turned away from her, staring up to the dark sky.<p>

"I don't mind, Ed! I'm interested in you either way. As long as you are honest and straightforward and you treat me with respect I don't care what you are or what you are not."

He looked at her again, a nuance of disbelief in his face.

Judith shook her head. "And what the hell makes you think you know what I'm looking for?"

"JUDITH! There you are!" suddenly someone was yelling. It was Gloria and a bunch of some other workmates appearing behind one of the several double doors that were leading to the balcony. "We were searching for you everywhere! Hey listen: Flynn wants to start a karaoke battle, but he said he won't begin unless you have joined his team!"  
>"He says your voice is <em>rexquisite<em>!" someone else was giggling and everyone was joining the laughter.

"I'm on my way, guys! Just give me some minutes", Judith shouted back at them, waving and smiling.

And as they had disappeared Ed spoke, picking up their talk and referring to her former question, snorting a brief, dry laugh, pointing with his glass to the hall: "Well…It's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Then he took another sip, was staring up to the blackness of the night sky once more, motionless, as if wanting to become some kind of a gargoyle.

Judith grabbed her glass from the railing, and while walking, two, three steps backwards she spoke to him: "The only thing that is obvious is your inability to _see_ the obvious…" And without waiting for any reaction from him she was heading for the double door, diving into the light again. Into the joy, the color, the sweetness of live.

Leaving him behind in the darkness he seemed to prefer.

* * *

><p>Much later that night.<p>

Most of the people had left the party, and the ones who were still there were either sitting around and having a decent talk by some drinks or coffees, or they were enjoying the last bits left from the buffet. And in the back area there were still a lot of the younger people who just couldn't stop gaming and partying.

Ed returned from his office where he had disappeared for more than an hour. He had needed some time alone, some time away from the party bustle. Some time away from everything.

He was stepping into the hall now, his eyes scanning every corner of the room, unstrung. He spotted Gloria and hurried towards her.

"Where's Judith?" he asked her in a stern, forceful tone. "I need to have a word with her."

"Hey… It's fun time tonight, not work time!" she replied loudly, obviously drunk, otherwise she wouldn't have dared to speak to him like this.

"Where is she?" Ed insisted, slightly upset, his voice even harsher now.

"She went home."

He remained silent, standing there moveless. The question _"__Alone?__"_ was twitching his tongue, almost spoken out. But he swallowed it.  
>His jaw began to tense as he turned from Gloria and began to search for someone else now: For Flynn…<p>

He couldn't find him. He was neither in the hall, nor on the balcony, nor in the reception area. Even the toilets he was sweeping for him. And with every minute he was searching for him in vain his tension was increasing.

About to loose his patience, his nerves, his composure - something he pretty much _never_ lost - he was starting his harried walk around the whole banquet hall from anew.  
>Stepping into the back area with the games he saw him. At last. He was just taking off a helmet of some kind of old fashioned virtual reality game.<p>

And for the first time and the last time ever Ed was glad to see Flynn.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later.<p>

Ed was sitting in his office behind his table top computer. He had no lights on. Only the glow from what was going on on the screen was illuminating his face from below with a pale, cold blue shine.

Deleting process 5%

He was tapping with his fingers on the surface of the desk, continually, tensely. On his upper lip there were some tiny beads of sweat shimmering in the dim light and his weary eyes were blinking swiftly.

Deleting process 7%

Hastily he raised his restless limbs and rushed two steps towards the window front, alternately glancing over the skyline and glancing at the screen, and finally returning to the computer. Standing there with his arms resting on the desk he was staring at the process operating.

Deleting process 10%

Breathing hard he gazed at the percentage increasing slowly, but steadily. Then suddenly, with a low pant followed by a silently hissed "Fuck!" he was typing in one quick command, almost aggressively:

Terminate process

The process came to a stop and Ed dropped back into the chair with a drained sigh, some moist stains still remaining on the keyboard where is sweaty fingers had been touching.

For some moments of calming down he remained just sitting there looking at the words on the screen:

Deleting process successfully terminated

He took off his glasses briefly to rub his eye lids and his forehead with his fingers. Then he stood up, turned to the window front again. With his left shoulder leaning to the cold glass he was gazing down to the city, for several minutes, his eyes focusing one certain direction: Judith's home, the district of the city where her flat was. He knew exactly where it was located. Many a time he had been secretly looking at it.

What was she doing? Was she in bed already? Was she sleeping?

He could have been with her, that night …


	6. Changes

Chapter 6: Changes

Ed looked at the cup of coffee Judith brought him into his office as if it was the first time in his life anyone brought him coffee without being asked for, simply for reasons of kindness.  
>"What's this?" he grumbled low, glancing beneath furrowed brows at the steaming beverage on his desk.<p>

"One calls it coffee. People use to drink it when they're tired", Judith replied, a faint sarcasm twitching the corners of her smile.

Ed was turning to the screen again. "You're not my secretary", he mumbled while typing swiftly, not hiding the disgust in his voice at the thought Judith would somehow lower herself to the actions of a secretary.

"But I'm your work mate. Never heard of work mates offering each other coffee?"

Ed didn't respond, just kept his slightly red-rimmed eyes on the screen, sitting there in a rather unhealthy position, neck bended, back bowed, shoulders tensed.

"Don't get me wrong Ed, but you need a holiday", Judith stated, straightforward, not caring if he could take this as an offence. Because she knew he wouldn't. There was hardly a thing she couldn't venture. It was a privilege he granted her exclusively.

"I can't. I have to keep an eye on things." The glance he gave her while speaking, that brief glimpse of a glance darting up to her for a second, made her suspecting that there was a double meaning hiding in his words.

_Is it that Flynn issue again?_ She thought, slightly irked. Dryly she answered him: "You don't have to. You can have every trust in me, and you know it, Ed."

Ed's typing seemed to slow down a little for an instant, but he wasn't enlarging upon this topic, just kept on working, silently, staring eagerly at the screen.

Judith was watching him for some moments, finally turning away from him to leave the office because actually she was about to clock out. But after three steps she turned to him again. "Is there something I can help you with?" She said, her voice caring and cordial.

Ed looked up from his screen and with sober but honest friendliness he replied: "No. You can go home. Please, enjoy the evening."

Judith walked a few steps closer to him until she had reached the front side of his desk. Then she spoke, a hint of softness in her voice: "If we would split work, then we _both_ could enjoy the evening."

The look he gave her she couldn't really read. But there seemed to be something like gloom and strain in it.  
>"I need to do this on my own," he just answered, taking up again his typing and focusing the screen, cutting every hint to his mood.<p>

And Judith was heading the door again, accepting what he said, but regretting it at the same time.

"Judith!" he suddenly held her back just as she reached for the door handle.  
>"There will be some changes around here", he entrusted her. "Just have a little patience."<p>

Again Judith felt like Ed's talking about work was only the surface of a meaning reaching deeper than his words would tell.

As Judith was walking along the corridor heading for her working place, she saw Ed coming her way.  
>He just came from the regular morning meeting, and as he passed her he said to her, brief and neutral: "Just heard the good news. Congratulations", heading further to his office.<br>He was talking about Judith's elevation.  
>From the next month on, she would be his assistant, which included equal responsibility to him as well as being his substitute when he was away. At last Alan – who was also the human resources manager – had decided to create this post. She was relieved and happy for Ed, as well as proud of herself for being the one who's been chosen for that position.<p>

She slightly furrowed her brows as Ed was out of sight. He must have known about her promotion before… After all it was he who had suggested her for this post, who had been enthusing about her in his conversations with Alan. This she knew from Alan, of course.

She was shaking her head, but yet she had a slight smile on her lips.

The day was passing and she was in a good mood. The work was going fluently, she had even time to chat a little with the fellow work mates around her, was having a good, productive but yet amusing and relaxed workday.  
>Lifted with high spirits she even seemed to notice Ed more than usual. Or was he just showing himself more often than usual…?<br>Yes indeed he _was_, she concluded. Where ever she was, he sooner or later appeared there too. If in the open-plan office, or the cafeteria, on the balcony, in the break time room… He seemed to sneak around as if intending to talk to her, but giving it up in the end. Maybe because she always was with other people...

Finally he caught her in the break time room, alone, where she was throwing some coins into the vending machine to get a chocolate bar. He was watching her until she had finished.  
>"What about celebrating your elevation with a dinner? This Saturday?" He asked her, dryly, as if just making out some appointment for a business dinner.<p>

_Is this an invitation to a date?_ Judith thought, taking a bite from her chocolate bar, slightly amused and full of sizzling curiosity. She leaned against the automat, eating and enjoying this conversation.

"Just the two of us?" She wanted to know, the smallest trace of a smile in the corner of her mouth.

"Yes. Do you like Korean food?" he replied _and_ asked in one breath.

"Never had. But I guess I should try it then."

"Okay. Is eight o' clock fine for you."

"Yes, just fine."

"I'll pick you up at Maguire Gardens, at that fountain there. That's right in your way, isn't it?"

"Yeah, perfect."

And Ed was concluding their conversation with a brief nod, leaving the room in the same second. Judith was watching him disappear.

That was the driest invitation to a date she ever got. But yet the most anticipated…

The Korean restaurant Ed was taking her out to, was quite a noble place. One of the more expensive restaurants, she guessed.  
>It was a very wide, huge room, almost a hall, with a high ceiling, a spare interior design and a very tasteful ambience. Dimmed, warm light was sparely placed here and there, indirectly positioned, unobtrusively, their source almost indefinable. The furnishing was neat and well designed all through. Dark, heavy, shiny ebony contrasting with light bluish colors, and everything was very edgy and angular and without any round corners.<br>It was certainly not the over decorated, kitschy, cozy Asian restaurant she was familiar with. But she loved it, that kind of plain, unadorned, simple, almost cold, but graceful beauty.

A bit like Ed himself…

They were eating, their table covered with a colourful but plain and not too sumptuous arrangement of precious tableware, vegetables, rice, meat, sauces, spices and beverages.  
>And Judith was enjoying the spicy, exotic delicacies as well as the appetizing presence of the gorgeous man in front of her, her love, her desire for him seeming to grow with every bit of tasty morsel melting on her tongue while her eyes were feasting on his beauty.<p>

Ed was far from being somehow charming or hearty, but he wasn't mean or moody either, not a bit. He was all gentleman and well mannered. And one could have a good conversation with him, because he was well-read and had a huge fund of knowledge. If politics, science, economy or actual world affairs; there was hardly any topic he wasn't confident with. His knowledge was so detailed and profound that he always knew how to argue and to substantiate his opinion.  
>As long as a topic had a solid ground, was something logical, rational and provable, something tangible and empiric, it was common ground to him. But everything regarding emotions, everything vague or spiritual or irrational, seemed to be beyond his sense of understanding.<br>For Judith just a weak spot she didn't hold back to hit, in the gentlest ways of debating.

As the evening was nearing its end and they already had their desserts, Judith noticed Ed getting more and more quiet. He was looking over to her very often, remaining silent. But he wasn't smiling or flirting either, was showing the same sober behavior like the whole evening through. And Judith took advantage of the silence unfolding and tried to challenge him with some tender flirting herself. But he was not responding to it, was swerving from her every smile.  
>But yet his gazes at her, intense and long, but surreptitious, were telling way more than he probably wanted to divulge. Although he always seemed to look away or to do something evasive whenever she caught his gaze, it was obvious that he was staring at her. She saw it out of the corner of her eyes.<br>And it was all she needed to know.

It was raining as they stepped out of the restaurant.

"Oh…" was Ed commenting, looking up to the sky, brows furrowed. "Wait here while I get a taxi." He signed Judith to stay under the baldachin of the restaurant's entrance.  
>In the same second he was heading for the street, he turned on his heels and came back to her as if forgotten something.<br>"Umm…" He brushed his perfectly groomed bangs out of his forehead so that they became slightly tousled – but only slightly because they were fixed with hairspray, like always, to keep every strand from falling out of place.

"Do you want to come to my place for a drink or do you want to go home?" He asked her then, the tone of his voice a tad _too_ dry and neutral, his head turning to the street, constantly, unsteadily, as if still watching out for a taxi.

_Is he nervous?_ Judith was thinking to herself, slightly amused, but enchanted at the same time.

He added, casually: "I have some Port at home. Burmester Ruby… 40 years old…"

Judith smiled in the corner of her mouth. As if she needed some fine Port to be seduced to come to his flat… She knew already what she wanted: To make love to him. Wanted it like never before.  
>But yet she was charmed by his sweetness. Burmester Port was her favorite alcoholic drink. She absolutely loved it. And somehow he must have known about it. It would have been a huge coincidence if he had bought it just by chance.<p>

"Sounds tempting…" she replied, softly smiling. "I'll come to your place." She held his gaze with hers. In his face she could read nothing, no reaction, no emotion.  
>Or was he blinking a little faster? Maybe only imagination…<p>

"Okay", he said, slightly nodding, diving again into the pouring rain as he spotted a taxi approaching. He waved, but it was passing by. "Fuck…" he muttered, returning to Judith under the were tiny silver drops scattered all over his hair, a few on his glasses, one dripping down his temple, two other ones running along his jawline to his chin, finally dispersing within his stubble.  
>Judith could have kissed him here and now, at this very moment, not worrying about taxis or anything.<br>But Ed was running for another taxi. One which finally stopped and brought them to his home.

It was a huge, modern building he lived in. Expensive apartments, decent neighborhood, classy district, but yet lively and colorful and centrally located

After passing the concierge in the spacious entrance hall they were stepping into the elevator.  
>Without speaking a word Ed was standing next to her with his arms crossed behind his back, moveless, emotionless it seemed. But as Judith looked at him close she noticed some tiny movements stirring his ever-farouche features. Like his jaws slightly tensing, ceaselessly, his eyes quickly blinking, his tongue moistening his lips from time to time.<p>

Judith moved closer to him. And at this moment he reached out one arm to wrap it around her shoulders, looking at her, flashing a faint smile, bending over to briefly kiss her temple.

_At last!_ Judith thought, rolling with her eyes unnoticed. She had almost begun to feel like she was nothing but a girl he picked up for a one night stand.  
>She let her arms slip around his waist. The damp, warm scent of Ed's wet hair and his wet clothes, a trace of his fine eau de toilet underneath, faintly flavored with his natural body odor, was simply delicious. She dove her face into this bouquet of scents, kissed his cheek, his throat, his collarbone, while his tense hands seemed to search her body for an appropriate place to rest.<p>

The elevator door opened and they stepped out to the corridor. His arm resting on her shoulder he led her to his flat.

It was a spacious, wide flat with a very clean, very tasteful interior, but radiating also a certain amount of coldness and the lack of coziness and personality.  
>"Take a look around. Or… or take a seat. Do as you like", Ed told her, again with a brief little smile appearing on his lips for an instant. Then he was heading for the bar to prepare the drinks.<br>Judith stepped out of her high heels and took a look around. Eagerly she was searching for, _hungering_ for some traces of personality. Even the tiniest object would be a treasure to her loving heart, would satisfy her longing for getting to know her lover's innermost core. And the more she was diving into Ed's personal space, his home, his private territory, the more she discovered: In another room, behind a half closed door she spotted a synthesizer. In the back of the living room, in a dark corner; a small, cold-blue illuminated saltwater aquarium. Besides the phone, on a commode; a greeting card from Prague – she didn't dare to turn it around. On the coffee table; a chessboard made of glass. On one shelve of his wall-to-wall cupboard; an old Apple II from 1977, displayed like a precious antique. On the same cupboard; some CDs – a strange assortment of Jazz and Electro – scattered wildly around and on his stereo, some of the CD-covers opened, the discs somehow carelessly spread around.  
>Judith smiled. Pleased, relieved, her heart beating warm with the love she felt.<p>

As she was joining him at his home-bar – a tiny spare with a curved, nearly two arms wide counter, a little freezer and some alcoholics on a cupboard – he already held out the filled glass to her. "Cheers!" he said, watching her expectantly, taking only a brief sip.

"God… this is delicious!" she confirmed, honestly captured by the rich, sweet taste, taking yet another delightful sip. And Ed's smile grew a little bigger, warmer. Somehow he seemed like a child, pleased about having found the perfect gift.

"How did you know?" Judith asked with a cheeky tone in her voice, slightly swinging her glass towards him.

"Know what?"

"That this is my favorite drink!"

Ed smirked in the corner of his mouth. "I have my sources…"

"So you're spying on your employees?" she joked, shaking her head and clicking with her tongue.

"No. Only on you," His smile was broad and warm now, even charming.

And Judith enjoyed that rare kind of smile while it was lasting, tried to hold onto it by returning it, letting her eyes rest in his, deeply and full of affection. He broke the moment by pouring some more Port in her glass.

"You seem to know me quite good…" she said, flirtingly.

"I wish I would," he answered. Then he suddenly escaped this conversation by taking his glass and heading the window front, seeming slightly embarrassed as if he just realized he may had revealed too much emotion.

Judith followed him.

And now they were standing there, looking down to the city, the lights, the streets, the freeways.

The glass in his hand, sipping from time to time, Ed was leaning with his shoulder to the window, a neon sign from across the street casting a pulsing ray of purple light across his chest, his shiny, black silk-shirt.

"I think I have a déjà vu …" Judith dared to speak about Darek for the first time, while glimpsing down to Ed's chest then raising her eyes to lock them with his, deep, steady, unmoving.

He remained silent for a few moments, his face motionless, his body tensed, his eyes following her glance, returning her gaze.

He was captured.

"I'm so jealous of him," he finally admitted. He said it quietly, almost without sound, briefly glimpsing out of the window.

"But you created him, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"For you."

"I assumed so, Ed… But _why_?"

He kept silent for a heartbeat. "Please don't ask," he whispered, softly insisting, in his voice a trace of bitterness. Then he placed his glass on the cupboard just beneath him, leaned forward and kissed her, the palm of his hand around the back of her neck, his thumb gently stroking her cheek, her earlobe.

"You stay the night?" he asked her then, unsurely, seeming to be slightly worried her answer would be No.

"Of course, Ed. That's why I came here with you," she replied, softly smiling.

He kissed her again, somehow released, freed, more passionate now. And she tasted and responded his kiss, his long and delightful kiss.  
>While not breaking their kiss, his right hand was gliding over the tender fabric of her dress, and she felt his breath on her cheek growing a tad faster, stronger at the moment the tips of his fingers were brushing over the tips of her breasts.<br>Judith began to stroke his caressing hand in reply, in a gesture of liking, of encouraging. And he went on, finally reached around her with one arm to unzip her dress. And after he had slipped the upper part of the clothing from her shoulders and down to her waist he stopped kissing her, looking down at her instead, looking at her breasts being freed from the bra by his trembling fingers.  
>Judith reached out to stroke his rough cheeks which were rushed with blood now as if in fever, looking at him in sweet affection while he was caressing her naked skin and enjoying the sight as if he couldn't believe this was happening.<br>His hands were following the smoothly curved sides of her body, so slow and dedicated like appreciating her femininity, and gently he thereby stripped the dress entirely from her hips. Gingerly his fingertips were grazing the lace of her panties before he finally grabbed her backside softly and pulled her to him.  
>She felt his crotch to her belly, hard, warm, tempting. And as she touched him there, he began to sigh on her shoulder. The sweetest sighs she has ever heard.<br>She reached up to his chest and began to unbutton his shirt, fervently caressing and kissing the skin she uncovered.

"Come…" he whispered, leading her to his bedroom.

She was sitting on the edge of his bed, still dressed in her panties, watching him taking off his glasses, his pants, everything.

The room was only lit by the glow of the street lights and the moon, filling it with twilight, leaving smooth shades all over Ed's body and his face.  
>How beautiful he was… Now standing there in front of her, nude and pure and only himself. Showing, <em>offering<em> her his most private, most intimate self. He, without his neat clothes, without his façade of arrogance, without his mask of coldness. Only he. He was hers, all hers.

He sat down beside her, continuing to kiss and caress her, receiving her kisses and caresses in return.  
>He was so gentle, so cautious and hesitant. And very nervous... Almost appearing inexperienced. His arousal and tenseness was so visible, so plain, in his every gesture, and it seemed to grow with the intimacy of his touch increasing. His hands were shivering as he pulled off her panties, and his breath was a hot and almost staccato like panting on her neck.<p>

While raptly looking into her face as if intoxicated by her beauty, he kneed down before her on the floor, beginning to spread fervent kisses over her breasts and her belly, licking her skin as if tasting an exquisite tidbit.  
>And as his kisses gingerly reached her lap, she leaned back, spreading her legs in invitation. Which he took, very tender and devoted, his fast, hot breaths a tickling sensation on her skin.<br>It took only a few of his gentle licks and she was almost there, already clenching her fingers into the blanket in sweet thrill, as he suddenly interrupted his caressing and began to kiss the inside of her thighs instead.  
>"No… Please don't stop!" she sighed in breathless protest, forcing his head back to its former place. And he continued, even more intense, as if apologizing. Only a few heartbeats later she came.<p>

They were lying on the bed now, side by side. Ed's face was covered with beads of sweat, some wet strands of hair falling into his forehead. Judith brushed the moist stubble on his upper lip with a brief, tender kiss, then she bended over his lap, starting to caress him, feeling his hand grasping her hair, hearing his deep, soft moans and sighs responding to her every action.  
>She enjoyed it with all of her senses, feeling her arousal growing anew with every pleasing caress she was doing to him. Enjoyed what Darek never could have given her: taste, scent, touch of her lover's most intimate parts.<p>

After a while Ed gently forced her to stop by grabbing her shoulder and turning her chin towards him. And as she lay next to him again he whispered low while breathing rapidly: "I want you… now…"

She kissed him once more and opened her lap to him.

He invaded her, a little too hasty, a little too fervent.  
>She was highly aroused and she was experienced, but yet she felt a brief little flash of pain, for he sized more than any man she had before.<br>But it was good. It was different from Darek's loving, so different. But so much better. Because it was real. Because there was love. In every trembling move he made, in every overwhelmed sigh he breathed on her neck, in every glance from his love-drunken eyes.  
>She held his head to her chest, stroking, grabbing, kissing his hair, moving towards his pushes in dazed, thoughtless excitement, increasing the rhythm to her liking.<p>

"Judith…" he suddenly panted, somehow helpless, into the little hollow where her collarbone met her throat. "…it's… too good…" His face… so hot and wet on her skin.  
>She felt him tensing, shuddering. Cuming.<br>But she wasn't ready…

He buried his face between her right shoulder and the cushion, his body gliding from hers, exhausted and limp. "I'm sorry…" he mumbled breathlessly, real, deep, painful shame and remorse in his voice.

"It's okay" she said gently. And it _was_ okay, because she loved him.

"Let's just wait a few minutes and then we start all over again. Hm?"

"Yes…"

He kissed her lovingly and dove his fingers into the wet, soft flesh in her lap, starting to caress her there as if trying somehow to sustain her arousal.  
>Judith didn't need that, but she let him do. It was sweet and it felt good. In the meantime she helped him to get hard again, and he responded to this with ardent kisses and pleased sighs.<p>

Finally he embraced her to love her again.

"Slow…" she whispered. And he was. Gently he glided into her body, and she took his entire size with delight.

In a soft and tender rhythm he rocked her body back and forth, his eyes not moving away from hers, only to kiss her from time to time.  
>In a gesture of pure devotion, of trust and love, she stretched out her arms over her head, letting him take over.<p>

It was the sweetest, the most enjoyable and fulfilling loving she has ever experienced. And as the intensity of his moves was increasing, and he shoved her steadily towards her culmination, she wrapped her legs around his waist in blissful tension, awaiting, wanting, letting go, giving into the sweet, hot rapture that was taking over her body, her mind, every part of her, while she was looking into his face, love and ecstasy merging into a feeling of overwhelming bliss.

Only moments later she heard his sighs of pleasure growing to an enraptured, unrestrained moaning and panting. And she held him tight, his shoulders shivering beneath her hands, his face buried between her shoulder and her neck, his hands grasping into the sheets besides her upper arms, as the short, intense release rushed through his body.  
>One moment longer he held their embrace, every muscle tensed, then he glided from her body, drained, weak, hard breathing.<p>

She turned to him, looked at him. And so did he. He didn't smile, he didn't say anything, but yet his face was showing more emotion than ever before.

He closed his eyes, and only a few minutes later he had fallen asleep. Judith smiled and stroked his cheek in sweet affection, kissed him and just watched him sleep for a while.


	7. Sunrise

Chapter 7: Sunrise

The morning after.

It was very early. The light flooding Ed's bedroom was still sallow and grey.

Judith woke up because of Ed leaving the sheets and heading towards the bathroom. It was too early to rise and she was still tired. So she just raised her head briefly, a little dazed, looking at Ed's sleek, luscious backside disappearing behind the bathroom door and then closed her eyes again, a little smile on her lips.

As he returned she was half asleep, but yet, through a gauzy veil of drowsiness taking over her conscious, she noticed him lying down very close to her. She heard his breath, felt its tender draft brushing her neck, felt the mattress denting from his elbow resting on it. Then suddenly his hand touched her shoulder, very tender, very faint, very cautious as if afraid of waking her up. He let it glide along the side of her body, slowly, tracing her silhouette down to her hip, stopping right at the edge of the blanket. And his touch slid all the way back then and he finally turned away and fell asleep again.  
>Still feeling an aftertaste of his touch lingering on her skin Judith finally drifted away as well.<p>

A few hours later.

Judith woke up afresh, this time awake and not willing to sleep any longer. But Ed seemed to have fallen into deep sleep again. He lay there on the side, one hand tucked under the cushion, his mouth slightly open, his shoulder slowly moving up and down from his deep, steady breathing. Judith smiled enchanted, enjoying her lover's sight, the beauty of his angelic, peaceful face exposed in the light, plain like never before.

_It__ must __have__ been__ very__ exhausting__ for __you__ last__ night__…_She was thinking to herself, sitting on the bed, bowing over cautiously to stroke the strands of hair falling tousled into his forehead.  
>Then she was heading towards the bathroom. And because she didn't expected Ed to wake up within the next fifteen minutes she decided to take a shower.<p>

The bathroom was quite spacious too, like every room else in Ed's luxurious apartment. It had a big milk glass window, and everything was kept in cold, shiny blue and white and chrome. There were no decorative objects displayed, just like Judith expected it from a man's bathroom. Everything was very clean and sparse, and Ed seemed to keep only the most necessary things for his body care. But yet the products he had were of a very exquisite kind.

She didn't wanted to snoop around so she refrained from open any doors and cupboards, just decided to use some shampoo and shower gel already standing there. She wasn't expecting him to have women's products anyway.

She was just about to step into the cubicle as Ed suddenly entered the bathroom. "Oh! I'm sorry!" he apologized, backtracking one step embarrassedly. But yet his eyes, although still midnight silky, were glancing down her naked body for just one blink in a flash of instinctive indecency.

Maintaining natural calmness and casualty, Judith replied: "You don't have to apologize. It's your bathroom. If you want to use the shower first go ahead. I will be having some coffee in the meantime."

"No, please, just go on! Use it… no problem. You're my guest", he said with a throaty, husky morning voice, one hand on the doorframe, his fingers nervously stroking its glossy surface.

Judith took the liberty to peer at his body herself. To finally see him in the unveiling brightness of the morning light was like getting to know him yet a little more. And it was even more beauty she discovered.  
>Slender built, lean and sleek, his body was a striking vision of smooth tendons and muscles and strong, chiseled joints. His skin was fair and delicate and he had freckles scattered in the most unusual, yet alluring places.<p>

Ed seemed to be captured by her sight as well for his eyes were taking in her nudeness again, this time with undisguised delight.

"…or we can share the shower…" Judith suggested while smiling softly. "There's space enough."

"You think…?" he said, hesitantly, decently. Although some parts of him already had decided…

"Come on, Ed. Why so shy? Join me…" she spoke in a seducing voice, glancing down at him unabashed.

He still lingered in the doorframe for some moments, then he moved over to her. Slowly she stepped backwards into the shower cubicle until her back hit the wall, watching him approach, anticipating the touch of his skin on hers. And as he was in there too he closed the slide door and embraced her for a tender kiss.

"So, how do you like it?" she asked, a little cheeky.

"What…?"

She smiled, reaching out for the valve. "The water."

"Umm… hot", he answered, sincerely and no double meaning intended.

But she had a broad grin arising on her mouth. "Oh really?" she responded sassily, blinking and turning on the water.

Now he was smiling as well.

"Yes…" he whispered on her neck, pressing himself against her, fixing her between his body and the wall. And she liked it, the immobility, the tight closeness, the hard, cold tiles in her back, the sleek, warm skin in her front, feeling his erection on her belly grow like an invitation. Or an affirmation...  
>She closed her fingers around him, around that dripping wet, stiff, warm handful of pure deliciousness. And he offered her some of these sweet sighs of delight and languish in return, his forehead resting on her shoulder for some moments of silent enjoying.<p>

He began to caress her body then, longingly, as if he hadn't seen her for weeks. He licked, he _drank,_ the streams of warm water flowing round her breasts, rinsing out her navel, dripping from the curls in her crotch.  
>She turned around and he worked his licks upwards, tracing the glyph of her back with his tongue up to her neck.<p>

And then: stagnation...  
>She felt his crotch pressing against her backside, so temptingly hard and wet and smooth, but he wasn't moving on, just lingering over kissing and caressing her extensively, not attempting to enter her although her offer was so plain, and she didn't know why.<p>

"Ed…" she spoke tenderly, lifting her arm and grabbing his neck, touching his cheek, turning her head backwards a little. "As much as I love foreplay… I want you _now_, so take me."

Ed's lips were hot on the skin of her neck as he murmured through the rushing of the shower: "Usual way or… or other way…" And Judith heard the insecurity, the shame and the discomfort in his words dripping like water from his lips. She softly smiled and turned her neck a little more so that she could briefly kiss him. "Usual way, please."

And without hesitating one moment longer he invaded her, in yearning ardency, breathing out slowly while thrusting in gently. And for a moment Judith didn't know where to put her hands for the wall was just so slippery and the floor as well and she was fearing to fall because her legs were trembling in weakness as waves of pleasure were pulsing through her body, right on the rhythm of his moves. But he enfolded her waist firmly and she held onto his arms, grasping her fingers into his flesh as she came, so sudden and quick and intense. And he noticed it and followed her with delighted ardor and relief, breathing a moan of pleasure into the wet strands of her hair.

His knees were trembling that hard he had to lean against the wall as they had finished. Judith smiled at him lovingly. "Do I make you weak?" she said.

"The only kind of weakness I like…" he admitted.

.

.

.

Judith sipped from the coffee Ed just had made. She was sitting at the table in his kitchen while he was standing at the kitchen counter, pouring himself a cup too.

Soberly she spoke into the silence: "Are you going to delete him?"

"Why are you asking? You wanna keep him?" His tone was an odd merge of fear and blame.

"No, of course not! I don't need him, Ed. I _never_ needed him."

Ed turned to the window, drinking one sip. "But I did…" he muttered silently, not intending to be heard.

Changing topic Judith stood up, joining him standing at the counter and said: "So Ed, what do want to offer me for breakfast? I'm hungry, _host_."

He took some sips, some _conspicuously_ extended sips, and finally answered: "There's a nice bistro just around the corner. They serve e delicious brunch at Sundays."

Judith furrowed her brows, puckering her lips. "You sure…? You have such a beautiful balcony. And the weather's so fine."

He looked at her for some moments, silent and sober and a little grimly, his cup at the ready to drink. "I have nothing here I could serve you", he answered, almost sounding slightly sulky that she had made him conceding this fact.

"I'm convinced you have _something_. I'm easy to please, you know." She smiled on the rim of her cup, drank a little. "I'm sure you have at least some milk here, some eggs or toast… marmalade… cereals…"

"No. Nothing", was his short, dry, brusque answer.

She slightly shook her head, convinced that he was just making fun of her. "May I?" she asked, tapping on the fridge door.

"Well, go ahead then!" He made an exaggerated gesture of invitation towards the fridge, in his voice a trace of asperity.

And she opened the door, facing the poor assemblage of some bottles of beer, a few slices Parma ham, a six pack of energy drinks, several chocolate bars, chocolate milks and some yogurts. A bachelor's fridge…

"So you were buying Burmester but you weren't thinking about buying breakfast…?" She asked him, slightly amused. And from the way Ed's body and his face were freezing, every emotion capped from appearing at the surface, she could tell that he must be somehow embarrassed.

"Well, you will agree with me that breakfast aliments will get bad much quicker than Port!" He stated, turning away from her and pouring himself some more coffee.

Judith silently smiled to herself, didn't forging further on that topic because she could tell already from the subtext of Ed's words that in fact he hadn't expected her to stay until breakfast.

"So, what kind of bistro was that again?"

* * *

><p>At ENCOM, five days later.<p>

Ed was sitting in his office behind his desk, eyes fixed on the computer's screen. A short question was blinking there, steadily, pulsing blue:

_Are you sure you want to delete _DAREK_ ? Yes No_

Without hesitating he pressed Y. Then he observed the screen, leant back in his chair, arms crossed.

_Deleting process 5%_

He stood up and walked along the window front, spreading some extensive gazes over the city. After several minutes he returned to the desk. With both hands on the blank surface he was bowing over the screen.

_Deleting process 39%_

His heart was beating faster for some reasons. He didn't know why. Unsettled he looked away from the screen, grabbing the cup of coffee Judith had left him there. He let her do that coffee-offering-workmate-thing. It seemed to make her happy. He smiled to his self before taking another sip. He could have sworn the coffee tasted better than ever…

The next time he checked the screen it said:

_Deleting process 98%_

He sat down and watched the percentage increase while his heartbeat was increasing as well. And as it had reached 100% and the confirmation: __DAREK_ __successfully __deleted_ appeared on the screen, he felt a little strange for a moment. Felt like stepping from a cliff into the void. But strangely it wasn't a bad feeling. It was a feeling of overcoming, of liberation and relief. Like a new beginning, all on his own, without a safety net …

He sank back into the chair again, closing his eyes, breathing deep, a little trembling though, but content, looking forward to tomorrow evening, Saturday. Another dinner with Judith. He was thinking about what she might would wear. He hoped that it would be that purple dress. And he imagined what it must be like to touch her luscious curves through that silken purple, to love her with this dress still having on, having her pushed against the wall in the doorway of his flat.

His desire; a starved out animal finally unleashed.


	8. Under control

Chapter 8: Under control

Emergency situation at ENCOM.

There was a virus raging in the main servers, attempting to spread and to infect every other system too. None of the important systems was working anymore. And even the most skilled employees, the best programmers and IT specialists, couldn't handle the situation.

Neither could Ed… He was at his wit's end, and the only thing he could do was helplessly handling and shielding the backup systems. It was the worst virus in ENCOM's history. It was overpowering and it was relentless.

Having a huge experience in fighting viruses directly in the Grid, Sam Flynn had decided to go in there. That was three days ago now. And since then he hadn't returned...  
>Usually it took him and his assistants only a few hours to kill a virus. But that was something else now, something dead serious, something unprecedented.<br>If ENCOM would be able to catch the hacker who was in charge of this, they probably had to … _hire__ him_!

Ed was angry and strained. None of his skills had helped, none of his security programs and firewalls – his _legendary_ firewalls – was able to halt the virus, even less to kill it, and that made him furious as if somebody had insulted him personally. The fact, that there was someone out there, more skilled than him, making a fool out of him and the entire company, was driving him nuts. And he had to face the truth; that there was absolutely nothing he could do.

Except from one thing: Going to the Grid himself.

He had passed some courses for that, but yet he didn't feel entirely secure and comfortable about going into the system. He preferred to command the programs from outside, from afar, rather than going into the computer, walking around in this strange world where programs were like people with whom he had to talk instead of typing in commands.

But he was determined to handle it by himself. So he volunteered to get access to the Grid to fight the virus. Not even for ENCOM, but for himself, for his self-confidence, his ego, his pride.

.

.

.

As soon as Ed got the green light for his mission he informed Judith about it. She had her own office now and Ed just had joined her there to discuss his plan with her.  
>She was standing behind her desk, looking over to Ed who was looking out of the window while restlessly pacing back and forth, his body tensed, every muscle champing at the bit to do something about the situation. He was agitated like a greyhound anticipating the race.<p>

"I'm going with you", Judith stated, with a firmness and convincement in her voice as if it was a matter of course.

Ed froze in the middle of his pacing, piercing her with a rather distraught expression in his icy gaze. "No, you won't!" he commanded, his words harsh and dry, but trembling underneath in covert fear. "It's too dangerous!"

But Judith didn't let herself be deterred by Ed's insistence. "I'm your assistant. It's my duty to help and to support you."

Ed was approaching her desk. "Yes, you're my assistant, my substitute. And that's why you have to hold the fort _here _in case something happens to me." He was standing right in front of her now, emphasizing his statement by tapping on the desk's blank surface with his knuckles.

Judith moved closer to him. "You need any help", she answered, calm but persistent. "You _can__'__t _handle this on your own."

"It's _too_ dangerous, Judith! You stay here, understood? I'll get me some assistants for support." Ed attempted to walk away, to leave Judith's office. And this unpleasant discussion…

But Judith wouldn't give in. She moved in his way and she argued: "I'm skilled enough for this. I've passed all of these Grid exercises brilliantly!"

"You _won__'__t _join me, and that's my last word!" Ed tried it again, with commanding authority and force. Which was the wrong choice...

"I'm one of the best regarding Grid matters, and you know it! To take me with you would be the most deliberate decision in this case," Judith replied, blocking the access to the door with her body.

"For the last time, _no_!"

Judith raised her chin until the back of her head touched the door, looking up to Ed in an expression of confident truculence. "So you want to get your _emotions_ involved in work related affairs?" she calmly spoke. "I never would have guessed… "

Ed pressed his lips together, tongue-tied, his jaws tensing, his every expression faintly trembling with resentfulness – and anxiety, but refusing to concede it.  
>"You always seem to get what you want, don't you?" He hissed, his tone nuanced with asperity caused by fear.<p>

"It's not about what I want. It's about what is required!" She concluded their discussion sternly, moving away from the door and giving Ed room to pass. And Ed realized that she was keeping the point more than him. As much as he detested himself for this, he loved _her_ for it.

"See you in five minutes in the Grid Operating Department", he dryly spoke, pacing out of her office.

.

.

.

And there they were at the G.O.D., sitting in the chairs, two digitizers aiming at them while the instructors were preparing the procedure. Judith realized that this would be the first Grid visit together with Ed. She wished the circumstances would have been more pleasant.

They found themselves in the main arrival area, which was a bare, semicircular room with a very high ceiling, almost forming a tower. A huge column of white light was casting from top to bottom: the initial point, the portal to which they had to return with their memory disks, the only point that would lead them back to the real world after their mission.  
>In the front of the room there was a wide, slightly curved slide door made of glass from which one could see the Grid's city and landscape. And the ever-starry nightsky.<p>

Judith, just having overcome the usual state of feeling dizzy after getting digitized, turned her face to Ed. Looked at him. And for a moment of pulsidge-increasing captivation she had to hold her breath. For he was beautiful.

The shiny black, lusciously shaped, sleek suit gave him the look of a dashing, slender, futuristic warrior.  
>And his circuitry… it had the same color as his eyes…<p>

Ed was looking at her as well, the same dazed, rapt expression on his face.

"We have to go", he said, breaking the ban of mutual tender admiration, bittersweet regret in his eyes and in his voice.

They were walking through the alleys and streets of the Grid city, huge, monumental, shiny, light-striped buildings all around them; dazing beauty which they couldn't enjoy for now. Ed was explaining his strategy, his plan of battle to Judith while they were searching the streets for any sign of virtual life.

Ed had quite an accurate plan of ENCOM's systems in his head and he roughly knew where he was at the moment because he had the ability to ascribe nearly every building and every place in the Grid to the respective point in the server. He was a genius at switching from abstract to objective. And the first thing he was checking out was the state of his firewalls.

The sight that met their eyes was grievously dire… The fortresses which were forming the barricades to protect the important programs and functions were damaged, the gates torn down, dashed to pieces. And the firewall programs themselves – there was no sign of them.

Or was there?

"Over there!" Ed shouted, running towards a portal which was leading into darkness. There was a program lying on the ground, a tall, well-built, male program clad in heavy armor, a shield to his side and a lance in his hand.

"Oh no…" Judith whispered as she saw that most parts of the program's body just weren't existing anymore, havocked, dissolved, by the virus. And the process seemed to proceed right before their very eyes, proceed rapidly. The program was steadily losing shape, losing substance.

Ed was bowing over the derezzing firewall program. "Where's the virus gone?" He asked in severe hurry. An expression of shock and terror was flashing over the programs face as he raised his lance. Ed was backing off one step and in the same second the program was dissolving completely.

Ed turned to Judith again, starting to move on. "This is bad…" he grumbled while they were passing all the other fortresses. "That was one of my latest firewalls from which I _actually_ had assumed to be impeccable. But at least it shows that the virus must be near…"

As they had examined every single fortress and had to face the fact that every gate was destroyed and none of the other firewall-guardians were existing anymore, they started hurrying through the streets and across the places again. The whole Grid city seemed to be lifeless and empty…

"It can't be that the virus has killed _every __single__ program!_" Ed was shouting at the naked walls as they were walking through a dark alley. "There _must_ be some programs left!"

"Maybe they are hiding…" Judith suggested hopefully. And just as she turned around a corner she spotted a movement on the other side of the street. A program, lying on the ground, also dissolving … They hurried towards it. A female program dressed in white and grey, an expression of mortal agony arising on her face as Ed tried to talk to her. But she was dying away without giving any hint about the virus' location.

And after they had witnessed another deceasing program a few streets further Judith had a guess: "Could it be that the dying programs are leading us in the virus' direction?"

Ed was nodding in confirmation. "You're might right… Looks like kind of a pervert paper chase." With an expression of disgust he gazed into distance. The boulevard on which they were standing was leading straight to the huge plaza with the gigantic Grid arena. Judith followed his gaze.

"You think it's there?" she said.

"I'm afraid, yes…" Ed murmured. "I'm really not in the mood for gaming now."

They entered the arena through the huge main portal. Empty and lifeless as it was now, dark and shadowy under the starry, cloudy Grid sky, it gave the impression of a baleful, forbidding shrine and not of a place of fun and games and noises.

Watching out for the virus in cautious heed they were walking into the arena, backing each other, slowly striving across the field, their memory disks gripped from their backs, holding them at the ready.

"The virus! There!" Ed suddenly hissed, grabbing Judith's arm, tearing her to him in an instinctive gesture of protection.

And Judith was staring over to the virus approaching, her heartbeat growing faster in agitation, every nerve tensed, every of her senses wide-awake.

First she could only spot the glow of a yellow circuitry in the shadows of a dark angle right below the rows, steadily moving towards them like an eerie luminous skeleton with two unnaturally big, semilunar shaped eyes glaring in the same yellow.  
>The slender vision was slowly, smoothly, stepping out of the shadows then, approaching at a casual sauntering, revealing its shape, revealing the plain, irrefutable fact of its identity. <em>His <em>identity.  
>The same salient, dazzling, body form accentuating circuitry, but pulsating greenish-yellow now like veins polluted with poison.<p>

"Oh my god…" Judith was moaning breathlessly, bewildered and shocked. "I thought you have deleted him!" she added, flashing at Ed reproachfully.

"I _did_…" he answered, gazing at the virus in an expression of stunned blankness. "He turned into a virus..." His voice was trembling between shock and fascination.

Darek stopped about fifteen yards before them, fixing them through yellow tinted glasses, a broad grin on his pale face.

"Ah, Judith! At _last_!" he shouted, spreading his arms in an exaggerated gesture of welcoming. "How many programs do I have to kill before you finally show up?"

Instinctively Ed moved one step forward, shielding Judith's body with his own.

"And finally I get to know my _creator_", Darek said, his voice dripping with disgust and cynism.

Holding his memory disk at the ready Ed replied: "I haven't created a damn _virus_!" His voice was slightly flaring with anger, as if Darek had insulted his impeccability by turning into a virus.

"Actually I was about to talk to Judith", Darek said, rather detached, while slowly and widely circling, sweeping, around Ed to sheer up Judith.

"What do you think, eh?" he asked her, with a strange, dry enthusiasm in his voice. "Enough free will for your taste?"

"Oh no…" Judith huskily whispered, distressed, grasping Ed's arm, while she felt her knees shaking as if collapsing any minute. "It's all my fault…Oh god… _Ed!_ It's _my __fault_!"

Totally confused Ed glanced at her, shaking his head, furrowing his brows. "What are you talking about?"

"I was…" Her voice ran dry as Ed suddenly pushed her backwards for Darek was approaching them at a brisk pace, shortening the distance rapidly. Ed raised his memory disk, aiming it at Darek in a threatening gesture. "What's this all about, Darek? Killing programs, raging the Grid?"

"Don't call me by this silly name! I'm not your _gift_ anymore!"

Darek stopped, aware of the fact that getting hit by the memory disk's sharp blade would kill him, would _derezz_ him. He reached for his own disk, holding it to his body like a shield. Or a potential weapon.

"Out of my way, _Creator_!" he commanded him, a veiled threat in his deep, strident voice.

"What went wrong with you?" Ed asked him, commandingly forcing him to explain. "What are you up to?"

"You, _Creator_!" he called him once more, like spitting out a disgusting taste, pointing his yellow glowing index finger at him, while pacing back and forth like a tiger in anticipation to attack.  
>"You fed me on this ravenous woman because you weren't able to satisfy her hunger yourself. But now I have emerged a hunger of my own." His glance was flashing from Ed to Judith and back to Ed. "I want her. And I get her. And there's nothing you can do, weak User that you are."<p>

Judith felt pure, cold fear overpowering her body and her mind like a nasty dizziness. And for some moments she could do nothing but standing there on shivering knees, staring at the program that once had offered her pleasure and gentleness, but now was threatening her.

Ed was stuck in motionlessness as well for some heartbeats, but finally acted. "Quick, Judith, get behind him!" he spurred her into action, giving her a slight shove which finally brought her back to conscious again. Her disk at the ready she swiftly circled around Darek until she was facing his back while Ed was positioning to parry him head-on. But Darek reacted promptly by trying to break from the circle in which they were containing him in. And while he was speeding backwards, intending to gain space to face them both, he was transforming his memory disk with some quick hand grips to an S-shaped boomerang-like object, beating off the beginning attacks from Ed and Judith with staggering dexterity.

Waiting for the right moment, Darek then started to attack them as well, throwing his remodeled disk towards Ed, who managed to avoid the deathly weapon at the last second by cowering down swiftly. Taking advantage of Darek being unarmed and defenseless for one second Judith reacted promptly, slinging her disk at him, missing him by only inches for he was avoiding her attack, striding out of the firing line with the smooth reflexes of an infallible warrior. In the same second as he was gripping the boomerang returning to its owner he succeeded to parry the attack coming now from Ed.

"Hand her out to me and I will do you no harm, _Creator_!" Darek shouted in between attacking and fending. It was no suggestion, no agreement. It was a threat.

For a brief moment Judith again felt anxiety affecting her movements, her force, her skills. But she repressed it, focusing on the one important matter; to help Ed killing the virus, to protect herself and her lover.

Not reacting to Darek's insistent threatening, Ed kept up his attacking, for his breath was just too precious to waste it on responding to a maniac virus.

"_Judith!_" Darek was turning to her now. "Leave him and come with me!" Again there was nothing but cold demand in his voice. But Judith didn't respond to him either.

So the fight went on.

Darek, although fast and skilled, had to deal with two opponents being a perfect team. And their attacks were getting increasingly better, with every new try. Steadily keeping him between them, bottling him up, he had always someone in his back, had to watch out on both sides for attacks coming now in shorter intervals.

And slowly realizing that he couldn't fight them in the open field and that he wasn't able anyway to get want he wanted in so doing, he changed plans, quickly, within the blink of an eye.

He took the stick tapped to a holster on his right leg, extended it, grabbed it with both hands, bowing over in full career while – within seconds only – a yellow striped light cycle was materializing around the stick which was forming the handlebars. And even before it had taken up its whole shape he already set the virtual machine in motion, speeding out of the arena.

"After him!" Ed commanded, materializing his own light cycle, Judith following him by doing the same. The helmet just had closed around Ed's head as he was speeding forth and Judith felt her own helmet covering her head now as well.

Muted through the helmet she heard the engines of her cycle growling as she was picking up pace. For some moments Darek was out of sight. But finally they spotted him again, driving towards the outlands.

They were chasing him through the canyons, passing dark rocks, driving through narrow ravines. And slowly it became clear that Judith was a way better driver than Ed. It was like in the video games or the training sessions; Ed was just not good at this. So Judith sped up, skillfully and smoothly guiding her light cycle through the meandering canyon, catching up with Darek bit by bit, while leaving Ed lengths behind.

She was now very close to him, her disk already in her hands to beat him from behind, gaining on and on, adrenalin pulsing through her veins like a drug while she was fixing her eyes on Darek's back, on the lines of his circuitry as if they were the target she had to hit.

Out of the blue he made a U-turn, leaving Judith no room to react.

Taken aback she was moaning a hollow gasp into her helmet, her body stolidly driving the machine further in an instant of torpidity. It took her only seconds to finally turn her cycle around, to follow him, but it was seconds too late.

She saw Darek driving towards Ed's light cycle in deadly speed, saw him cutting in on him, saw him jumping off his cycle in the moment it was crashing into the wheels of Ed's machine, making it skid, letting both cycles crash and shatter to pieces at the rocks, tossing Ed out of his seat. His body slid across the rugged ground, coming to a stop, lying there, moveless.

Judith was jumping from her cycle in breathless panic as she reached him, not caring about making her self vulnerable to Darek, not caring about anything but her lover's life.

"Ed!" she was shouting, over and over again, as she approached the motionless body. "_Ed_! Oh, Ed ... please, _no_!"

A sudden grasp on her lower abdomen was chocking off her breath, her every word. With relentless force Darek was tearing her away from Ed, mercilessly fast. And with every inch of room growing between her and her lover Judith's heart got ripped apart a little more.

"_Get __off __of__ me!_" she yelled at Darek, struggling against his clutch vigorously. But standing no chance. She was nothing but a puppet in his arms of steel.

Darek came to a stop, but only to brutally rip the memory disk from Judith's back, slinging away carelessly the object which might could pose a threat for him.

Suddenly there was a movement stirring Ed's body. He raised his shoulders, his torso, shivering, while his helmet was dematerializing, and Judith saw that his head was not injured. A rush of relieve was pulsing through her body like the very first breath of life.  
>Ed sank on the ground again, too weak to raise, but conscious. There was an expression of pain on his face as he was helplessly gazing after Judith, infinite pain, but not caused by any injuries.<p>

Although it nearly tore her apart inside, Judith withheld any gesture, any word or any action, that could have told Darek that Ed was still alive. Because she feared that if Darek found out, he would kill him straightaway, easily, wounded and helpless that he was.  
>And so she let herself be dragged away by Darek, facing that she couldn't struggle him anyway, for his force was beyond nature. Let herself be dragged away to give Ed time to recover, hoping that he <em>would<em>.

Darek forced her to sit on the one remaining light cycle, the one of Judith, then he took place behind her. And as he started the engine and they were driving he was bowing over her body, pressing it down, bending it brutally into the seat while gripping both of her wrists harshly with his left hand to prevent her from struggling.  
>As if she would do that at full speed! She might was distraught, but she wasn't suicidal.<p>

After about half a mile he stopped the cycle abruptly, descending from it in a smooth, nimble move while pulling Judith carelessly after him, letting the machine drop to the ground, unconcerned. He walked a few steps further, tearing Judith into the first cleft that came along, pressing her against the bare, cold rock.

"Finally…" he whispered, stroking her hair, her face, her shoulders and hips with a slow slide while looking her up and down possessively as if she was some sort of an exotic hunting trophy.  
>As if lunging out he suddenly kissed her. A kiss like a raid; invading, forcing, infringing, his hands clutched around her shoulders harshly. The same hands that once had caressed her so full of gentleness…<p>

He stopped kissing her, looked at her like a predator that just had taken a first mouthful of his prey.

"Darek… please let me go!" Judith insistently spoke to him. He just furrowed his brows in an expression of incomprehension. "Why should I do this? Can't you see: I'm finally able to feel! I can _feel __love,_ Judith!"

Her eyes were widening and she didn't know if she should feel shocked or totally bewildered. "That's… that's not love…" she breathed.

A hint of anger flared up in his eyes, which were glistening green behind his yellow tinted glasses. "Why not? You told me it's about free will. You told me you wanted someone who chooses to love you. Well, I _chose_ to love you for I have my own will now!"

She gasped. "But to force your will upon me has nothing to do with love!"

He narrowed his eyes, piercingly looking at her, his one forearm leaning against the rock beneath her face.  
>"I'm sorry but I'm really not familiar with the finer touches of the User's language. All I know is that I feel that virus you have told me about, that <em>fever.<em> There's a heat burning in me and there's a strong, incontestable urge to share that heat with you, to brand it into your body until you burn as well." Not noticing her moan of protest and her body stiffen in repulse, he bended over again to violently kiss her while both of his hands where grasping into her hair to fix her head to his liking. And not even her struggling, her arms pushing against his chest, trying to shove him away from her, could hold him back. She could have fought against the bare rock instead…

While kissing her still he let his one hand glide from her hair to her throat, gripping his fingers around it. And for one brief moment of pure panic Judith thought he wanted to strangle her. But his fingers slid further, grasping the collar of her suit, pulling it open a few inches, denuding her neck completely. The two yellow pulsing fingers on his right hand were leaving a sickeningly hot burn on her skin, and she shivered with disgust and fear at the thought what it must feel like if his touch would reach the more sensitive parts of her body.

"I don't want you! So let go of me!" she yelled at him huskily as he had released her from his breath sapping kiss.

Now there was plain, hot anger flashing up on his every expression, arising in his body like a wildfire. "I don't understand, Judith! Why are you refusing me? _Why?_"

"You are virtual. You are not my kind, not human. And I don't feel _anything _for you!"

"But I'm looking exactly like _him_! So why don't you want me?"

"It's because…"

She couldn't speak on, for she began to tremble, began to feel dizziness addling her mind, felt like fainting any moment.

Darek's words echoing in her mind.

_I__'__m __looking __exactly __like__ him__…_

And she suddenly had one thought arising in her mind, emitting through her whole body like an electric shock: The painful awareness that, if this was over, she wouldn't be able to enjoy Ed's touch, his caress, his love again like she did before. Because looking at the spitting image of her violator while making love to Ed would taint forever any tender feeling. And she knew one thing: She wanted to defend that precious jewel of love and tenderness between her and Ed at any price. She wouldn't let Darek take that away from her, would halt him whatever the cost.

But what could she do? Darek's physical force was beyond her own...

Darek grasped her shoulders again. "Explain!" he commanded her.

"It's not only about looks! I simply _can__'__t_ love you like I love a human being! Like I love Ed…" Judith insistently spoke to him. "It's this, simple and plain."

He was shaking his head, not seeming to be satisfied with this answer, his lips pressed together along with his clenching jaws. "So why did you make love to me as I still was _that__ program_? Why were you handing over your body to my control so willingly, but refuse me now? What's different now?"

"You're brutal and you're forcing me to, _that's_ different!"

"I don't understand you Users…"

"You never did…" she whispered low, sighing, shaking her head, looking away from him, feeling her energy fading while slowly realizing that she couldn't talk to him like to a human being, for he had no soul, no conscience, no comprehension. And that scared her even more.

He grasped her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes again. "But I know one thing: After I was always ready for you to satisfy your needs, you shall be there for me now as well."

Judith's knees began to shiver and she probably would have fallen down to the ground if Darek's clutch hadn't been that strong it just kept fixing her to the rock.

"_No!_ No, please…" she was panting out in sudden weakness as he began to let his hands slide all over her body as if apprasingly considering the possibilities of what he could do with it.

Suddenly she had an intuition like a ray of hope flickering through her despair and her fear.

"Ed! He can create you a female program after my image! And with her you can do _whatever_ you want."  
>But in the same second she had spoken out her last word she regretted her hasty talking, for she realized what a dumb hint about Ed's physical integrity she just had given away.<p>

Darek however didn't seem comprehend anyway. "After that collision he is either dead or seriously injured", he just answered, dryly, showing not a hint of emotion.

"Then let's go and help him!" Judith promptly reacted, insistently urging him to move, hitting his chest with the palms of her hands in emerging hope.

He didn't budge an inch. Callously he gazed at her. Then he spoke, low and calm but cold as ice.

"Why should I content myself with a virtual woman while you are refusing me because _I__ am_ virtual? That doesn't make sense, User!"

She ran out of words and she felt like running out of hope as well…

"And anyway," he continued. "I want to have a human woman. I want the trembling, sweating, delicious tasting and smelling body of a User. Now that I tasted you I don't want anything else." As if in a gesture of affirmation he let his tongue slowly slide along her neck, licking away the drop of sweat that was running down her skin as if it was the finest wine. She was shivering with disgust, but he didn't notice, didn't understand, just went on.

With his index finger fondling faintly he slid her suit open a little more, watching another bead of sweat dripping downwards bit by bit, from her throat to her chest and through the valley between her breasts, slightly vibrating from her quivering and breathing. Gradually he undid the suit, following the trickle of sweat making its way down, until it finally came to a stop, somewhere in the space between her ribs. He bended down, catching it up, licking all along the salty trail it had left, up to her throat again, disregarding Judith's moaning and grasping his hair and his shoulders in desperate efforts to push him away from her.

While breathing hot and fast an lustfully on her neck he grasped one of her breasts, peeling the suit away from it, his breath growing to a feral moan as he clenched his palm around the sensitive flesh.  
>Forthwith Judith grabbed his brutal hand with insistent force to halt him. "Don't you…!" she snarled at him grossed out, digging her nails into his arm and tearing away his hand from her maltreated flesh. But causing only the reaction that he grasped now both of her wrists and pressed them over her head on the harsh wall of rock. A grasp like a manacle…<p>

Then he made another foray to invade her mouth with forceful kisses. With both of her hands fixed, Judith lifted one leg to fight him, attempting to slam her knee into his stomach, his crotch, wherever. Only to helplessly witness that he repelled this attack as well by gripping her knee and effortlessly spreading her leg aside, causing an electrifying twinge flashing through her tendons.

Judith screamed out in pain and despair, but still fighting him back vigorously. "Please just let go of me! Can't you see – can't you _feel__ – _that I don't want this? What happened to your gentleness, your ability to read my mind, my wishes, to only do what I like, to never hurt me, Darek? I'm _suffering_ and I don't want this! So why don't you stop?"

"Darek has been deleted," he explained dryly. "What's left of him are the ideas of love and emotion and free will you planted into him, which had been fermenting inside of him – until I have evolved out of it."

"This is not love…_This __is __not__ love!_" she repeated over and over again, shouting herself hoarse, while tears where running down her face now and her fists where hitting Darek's chest, steadily but pointlessly. She didn't know what else to do. Her mind was offering her no more ideas to shuffle out of this situation, and her struggling was only driven by plain survival instincts in the end. She was screaming, hitting, punching, slapping and kicking him with all of her might. And as she felt the suit gliding from her every bodypart, her mind was facing the inevitable, while her body still was defending itself with feral determination.

Suddenly there was a second of hesitance in Darek's movements, a blink of stagnation. And reflexively Judith took advantage of it, squirming free from his clutch, fleeing two trembling steps. But he halted her by grasping her forearm. She was stumbling at the heavy tug, falling to the ground, and he was moving over her, pressing her down with his entire weight.  
>Suddenly there was this hesitance in his moves again and his body was shivering and twitching as if in pain. His back and his neck were bending and his fingers were clenching into the ground. Judith lifted one leg, slammed her knee into his torso, managing to shove his body from hers. She expended her last bit of energy on crawling away from him hurriedly. And as she was out of his reach she watched him writhing there on the ground, her head and her naked back leant to the wall of rock, breathing hard.<p>

She noticed Darek seeming to get weaker and weaker. Just once he bestirred his self to try to get up again, managed to walk two, three steps in Judith's direction, stooping, shivering. Holding her breath, looking up to him in anxious stir she crawled away some inches, but before he could reach her at all he collapsed again, ending up squirming on the ground in kind of a silent agony.

Her heart beating fast, her pulse racing in her throat and rushing through her veins, but steadily subsiding now that she wasn't in danger anymore, she watched him, her arms clenched around her bare shoulders, which were trembling like crazy as if in aftershock of the threat she just had experienced.

For many minutes she was just sitting there, her eyes closed, not able to do anything but waiting for her body to settle down, to regain power.

"Judith!" she suddenly heard Ed's voice, so throaty and weak and painfully worried. "Ed!" she yelled back, but her voice was weak as well and she couldn't even manage to rise and walk towards him for her body had lost all of its energy on trying to fight against an invincible creature. So she just bended forward a little, reaching out her one arm, her hand, while he was limping towards her for his left leg seemed to be injured, casting only a cursory, almost unconcerned glance at the squirming shape of Darek to his right.

Falling down on his knees he enfolded Judith in his arms, letting her memory disk, which he had taken with him, drop right beneath him.  
>"Did he harm you?" was the first thing he asked, fear and anguish and guilt dripping from his every syllable.<p>

"No. I'm fine", she answered, a weak, confirming smile on her lips. And with a moan of infinite relief he closed his arms around her even tighter.

He reached for her suit then, nothing but a silky cloth now, and draped it around her shoulders gently, whereupon it was closing itself around her naked body, re-covering it as if by magic.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled into her hair, his embrace growing equally stronger with realizing and regretting what he has done. "I'm so sorry… so sorry…"

Judith reached out to touch his cheek. "It wasn't your fault, Ed", she affirmed.

Ed furrowed his brows in slight confusing. "But I have programmed him! I never should have done this… never…"

"But it was me who gave him the idea of love and free will. His interpretation of it was just wrong…"

For some moments Ed was looking at her wordlessly, tying to figure out the meaning of her words. In the end he understood. "You seem to do this quite often", he said, whisperingly, his voice only a breath. "Raising emotions in an emotionless being…"

Judith softly smiled. "You can't create something out of nothing."

Ed was casting a quick glance over to the virus that once had been a program, created out of weakness and self doubt. But love, too.

He had his back turned to them. His constantly twitching shoulders were moving up and down as if breathing hard and his yellow circuitry was flickering like a light bulb impending to die away.

"The Devast Dart…" Judith whispered, referring to the small, slender object that was poked into his back. "When did you have time to apply it?"

Ed snorted a quick, dry laugh. "At _no_ time, actually... It was more or less an instinctive move. A reflex… Maybe only luck. Somewhere between Darek cutting in on me and crashing to the ground."

The Devast Dart was the prototype of a piece of hardware which Ed had constructed, hastily and tentatively, only days ago, just after the virus catastrophe had occurred. It was intended to be an ancillary weapon, along with the disk. A small, concealable weapon which the virus wasn't expecting and therefore couldn't fend as easily as the disk. The object could only be used directly in the Grid and was meant to be attached on a virus' body. Simply put, it was working a bit like a virus itself, for it was implanting his own lethal matrix into the virus' body and thus destroyed it from inside, byte by byte.

Initially, Ed hadn't been entirely sure if it was working at all. But now he knew. What a horrible trial run...

Suddenly Darek was turning around, facing them, his one arm reaching out in their direction, his fingers helplessly nailing into the ground while endless quivers were shaking his twitching body, some parts of it already beginning to dissolve.

Judith briefly winced.  
>"Do you think he's suffering?" she asked, her voice trembling with concern. The agony in Darek's face was so real. This face... so dazzlingly similar to Ed's...<p>

"I don't know", Ed answered, straight and neutral.

"He looks like he's slowly dying…" she said, her words subsiding to a sore, pain-filled sobbing. _._

"Don't look!" Ed softly ordered, turning her face away from the deceasing virus, turning her face to him. A single tear was running down her cheek as she was blinking. And she laid down her head into Ed's lap, slowly, gently caressing his thighs in a gesture of soothing herself.  
>Until he stood up and she as well, and she saw that the virus was gone.<p>

Leaning on each other in gentle caring of their wounded bodies, they were walking towards Judith's light cycle.

"How are we supposed to explain that to ENCOM?" Judith asked.

Ed slightly shook his head, grabbing the cycle's handlebars to hoist the machine from the ground. "I'll probably get fired…" he grumbled.

"I would lie for you!" Judith promised, a small but bold smile on her lips.

"I think I have to handle this on my own…"

"No you don't, Ed. Get used to the fact that we are a team."

"Well then. Let's cook up a story… A _damn__ good_ story," he said as he sat down on the cycle.

"May I?" Judith positioned herself in front of him, pushing him backwards a bit to gain space while gripping the handlebars. "You're injured."

He just raised his hands briefly, letting her do. "Oh well… _as __you__ will_!" he mumbled.

"Flynn!" Judith suddenly remarked. "We have to find him!"

Ed rolled his eyes. "Do we?" he said, ironically. But Judith already had started the engine.

As they were at full speed he rested his head on her back trustingly, lovingly, his arms gripping tight around her waist, enjoying the touch, thinking about might visiting the Grid together for some leisure activities as soon as they had recovered from this dreadful mission. What a pleasure would that be.

* * *

><p>.<p>

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_Hi folks !_

_ I hope you enjoyed the finale. :3 Thanks in advance for every review. Aaaand: there's an epilogue following..._ *grin*


	9. Aftermath

_*** This epilog I wrote mostly for my own pleasure. But if you like it as well, then I'm highly delighted ! :D ***_

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><p>Epilog: Aftermath<p>

Judith lifted her head from the warm softness of her cushion, woken by the door to her bedroom opening. She raised her torso, resting on her elbow now.

"Ed…" she murmured a little drowsy but smiling softly, blinking in the direction of her lover approaching. "Took you long to come to bed, eh? I was sleeping already."

"I'm so sorry about that…" Ed answered, drawing nearer to her bed. He was fully naked and Judith took in the beautiful sight of his flawless body, his smooth, fine muscles and tendons softly lit by the twilight imbuing the room, his silky, creamy skin like the carnal interpretation of a slick, polished, moonlight-coated ancient sculpture made of marble.  
>"But finally I'm here…" In his words, wrapped up within the velvety waft of his voice, there was a promise swaying, a sweet promise of tenderness and delight. He lifted the blanket, and Judith felt that smooth warm, deliciously blood-throbbed marble enfolding around her body, making her shiver with desire. Pleasure incarnate…<p>

She was stretching out her arms, placing them on the cushion, over her head, offering him her body willingly, trustfully, yearning for the things he would do with that generous offer of hers.  
>He smoothly embedded his hips between her invitingly bended legs, touching her warm, pulsing crotch with his warm, pulsing crotch while his hands were gliding along her arms slowly, reaching her wrists, enfolding his fingers around her slender joints. And she was looking up to him, loosing everything in his beauty; her eyes, her thoughts, her mind, her will. His beauty… these lips and eyes and skin, these oh so flawless features…almost unreal. She found herself captured within the spell of her lover's beauty, while captured in his grasp, his fingers clasping her hands tighter and his weight holding still her body, seeming to grow heavier and heavier.<br>As Judith tried to move she realized she could barely do. His grip around her wrists was increasing, tightening, with every move she made.

"Ed… not so tight please," she whispered, bewildered a little. But in his face there was only perfection and beauty, and nothing else.  
>"You're hurting me!" she moaned as the grasp of his fingers was branding pain into her skin and his erection was steadily growing between her thighs, hard like steel, impending to invade the sensitive, vulnerable softness of her defenseless body in relentless determination.<p>

And Darek kept on smiling like an angel while he was touching her with the scorching tangency of a devil.

Crying out in pain that was only in her mind, she woke up, her eyes wide open to the redeeming warmth of reality.  
>But still there was that devil bowing over her, blue eyes glistening in the dark…<p>

A heartbeat later her confused, dream-drunken mind realized it was Ed. Ed, with tousled hair, dry lips, small, weary, tiredly blinking, dark rimmed eyes and heavy stubble all over his face. Ed, so soothingly, beautifully imperfect.

"Judith…" he whispered with the weak, hoarse voice of someone startled out of his sleep. And she grabbed his hand that was touching her shoulder and was pressing it against her hot cheek, kissing his palm and breathing in his warm, soothing scent.

"Was it him again?" he gingerly asked, fearing her answer.

"It was you … it was him…" she whispered, breathing away the aftertaste of the dreams dreadful emotions.

Guilt and pain was twitching Ed's heart. He embraced her, hoping that the wounds of that certain awful incident would mend soon. These wounds that were his fault, no matter what she was saying, his fault, after all...

"I can't understand why you still want do share the bed with me," he whispered low, and it sounded almost like a reproach.  
>But Judith knew better. There was love and self hate dripping from his every word.<p>

"Ed… when I wake up from such a dream I need to see _you,_ understand?"

He slightly shook his head. "No I don't. But I have to accept it."

There was another dream she sometimes had, but she didn't dare to tell him about it. In this dream Darek was raping her and she killed him with a knife, but had to watch _Ed_ die…

She feared that he would leave her if she ever told him about it. That he would leave her because of doubting to deserve her company.

"Ed! It wasn't your fault! How many times do I have to say that?" She rose on her elbow, gently stroking the hair in his nape, almost regretting to speak about her dreams at all. "I love you, Ed…"  
>Again so much doubt in his face… Would he ever understand?<p>

He responded her, not with words - he never did - but with a kiss, a warm, soft, lust-detached kiss of deep and honest love confession.

* * *

><p>It was late evening and Judith just was about to shut down her computer to leave work for today as Ed rushed into her office.<p>

"We have to go to the Grid!" he proclaimed, his dry and sober tone almost a command.

Judith was putting some documents into her briefcase. "Ought that really to be done today?" she muttered with discontent. "I've been working for almost ten hours now and I'm really not –"

"It has to be", he insisted, weaving her nearer.

"So what is it about?" she asked him, sighing and rubbing her forehead as they were pacing along the corridor to the Grid Operating Department.

"Leisure," he said, tersely.

"What?" She briskly stood still, watching him making two more steps then turning to her slightly impatient. "And why the hurry then?"

"Judith…" He drew nearer. "You have to learn anew to enjoy the Grid, to associate positive experiences with it."

She couldn't prevent a small, enchanted smile warming her lips. She stroked the folds of his rolled up shirt sleeve on his upper arm and spoke softly: "Ed, please, those events were bad, yes, but they weren't _that_ traumatic it would require such urgency! Believe me!"

"These nightmares have to stop!" He sternly remarked.

She felt like hearing a hint of remorse among his words. And that was the reason why she finally gave in to his request, his offer of recompense.

* * *

><p>This time their area of arrival was completely different. Nothing Judith has ever seen before. It was a long, high, cathedral-like corridor seeming to be entirely made of milk glass and mirrors. Tall, majestic windows and slender columns were lining the splendid construction all the way through, until the end, a small dark blue rectangle in the distance.<p>

Judith turned her head to him. "This is…" she murmured in overwhelming, meeting his eyes, his sight. His _sight_… taking away her breath now entirely. The shiny, black shape of his suit-covered body a striking vision of elegant, slender, sinewy beauty contrasting with the pale glass in the back, adorned with light blue, pulsing, glowing, vein-like twirls and stripes. At last she had the time to fully enjoy that Grid-suit phenomenon. And he as well. His gaze, admiring her body wrapped up in skin-tight black, was like a soft, warm beam reaching deep into her heart, making her melt in sheer joy of appealing him that much.

He reached out to touch her, to seize her body, every curve of it with his glove-covered hands, tracing her circuitry with rapt caresses. And she drew nearer to explore the texture of his suit as well. Some parts of it were seeming to be thicker and others thinner, so thin and filmy and tender that she could almost feel the skeins of his muscles and the warmth of his body underneath her fingers.

"Come. I want to show you something", Ed softly broke their silent moment of admiration after a while. And they started walking along that crystalline gateway. Judith noticed that, their entire walk through, Ed's eyes were constantly skipping from her sight to her vision in the mirrors, catching it anew in every new mirror that came along. And she smiled in the corner of her mouth, swaying her hips yet a little more to his pleasing.

The corridor was ending to the open ocean, passing over to a narrow balustrade that led to a wide, round platform. And as Judith was standing at the corridors exit, bending over the railing, she saw that the whole construction was standing on high piles amidst the open water, no land meeting her eyes.

She took some moments to enjoy that beautiful, majestic sight unfolding right before her, Ed standing aside, only having eyes for her. The sky's color was a dark, rich blue, strewn with stars and clouds, and the water beneath them was a lighter blue, almost aquamarine.

"What's over there?" Judith asked him curiously as she ceased watching the ocean, craning in the platforms direction instead.

"Oh well, let's go see it", Ed responded, flashing a brief smile, the hint of a twinkle in his eyes as if anticipating, child-like, to show her what he had built.

On the platform there were two slender, elegantly constructed flying objects standing side to side, looking a bit like two oversized futuristic, robotic dragonflies. Judith's eyes were widening in excited wonder and she briefly looked at Ed. He extended one arm towards these objects in a gesture of invitation, and Judith drew nearer to them.  
>Delighted she let her hand slide over the blank shiny surface of one slender wing, thin like paper, but solid as steel.<p>

"Would you like to fly?" Ed asked, his arm leaning on the other wing, a restrained smile vibrating, nearly glowing underneath his composed features.

"I would love to!" Judith answered him enthused, opening the door in impatient excitement, sitting into the small cockpit.

"How is it working?"

"It's dead easy." Ed was craning into the narrow cockpit, pointing at the control stick between Judith's legs. "With this one you control the height and with the pedals your speed. The right one is the accelerator." He withdrew from the cockpit, grabbing her shoulder briefly while saying: "No fear. Nothing can happen."  
>She beamed a warm smile, and just as he had closed the door, she already set her flying object in motion.<p>

"Oh, hey! Wait!" Ed shouted, hurrying to his own _dragonfly._But Judith was already sliding over the edge of the platform, diving into the air, the object wrapped around her so light and delicate like a feather. She barely felt its materials, its weight. It was like flying on her own, only borne by the wind.

Ed was catching up with her, shooting ahead in a challenge to a chase. In which she followed without hesitating. Boldly grinning she passed him, guiding her aeroplane smoothly through the air, soaring up and delving down again, almost brushing the water surface while flying across the ocean.

In the distance there were some columns appearing, a cluster of crystal-like, tall, slender rocks protruding out of the water, towering into the air; a challenge for Judith's dexterity. Increasing the speed she guided her _dragonfly _skillfully towards the cluster of rocks, delving among them, smoothly circling around the craggy columns while yelling and laughing with exaltation and pure, child-like joy.

The rocky columns were thinning out after a while and they were flying across the flat, wide ocean again.

At the horizon there was another platform coming in sight which Ed was heading for. _"__Touch __down!__"_ he informed her through the intercom in her cockpit. And she softly brought her _dragonfly_ down, landing it smoothly on the wide, spacious platform, watching Ed following her.

"Oh, Ed! That was amazing!" she rejoiced as she was walking towards Ed, still drunken with endorphins floating through her veins like sparkling wine.

"There's more to come…" Ed implied, guiding her with a soft tug towards the platforms edge. A spacious column made of glass was attached there, leading downwards; an elevator to the ocean. And as they were breaching, _diving,_ into the water, slowly moving downwards into the deep blue, Judith was raptly leaning to the glass of the elevator's capsule, gazing out of it, feeling like diving into the water with only a bubble of air around her.

The lift came to a stop and the door was sliding aside. After a brief moment of shock, instinctively fearing to get over floated by masses of water, Judith realized that their area of arrival was air and solid ground. But _encompassed_ by water, forming a long, blue-lit archway like in one of these huge, splendid public aquariums where the visitors could walk _through _the tank by passing corridors made of glass. But was it glass as well? Judith approached the wall, reaching out for the clear-blue, drifting, moving, glistening surface, watching her fingers just delve into it. She pulled them back, cheering at Ed with a laugh of exult, looking at her fingers again, which were completely dry.

"It looks like water, feels like water, but it's not!" she rejoiced.

Ed nodded in confirm, soberly, but hardly able to cover the joy of watching her sweet, elated enthusiasm for his creation. Restrained emotions were slightly tremoring underneath his strict features and his settled stance like a volcano about to erupt.

"Did you create all this?" she asked, dreamily watching beautiful, exotic fishes passing by, shimmering and colorful and lager than life-sized.

"Yeah."

"I never would have guessed that you had such a sense of beauty and romanticism", she said, a little cheeky, a little teasingly, leaning her back to his chest, drawing circles into to the swirling wall of water in front of her while his arms were enfolding around her waist.

"Oh well…" he responded, a faint teasing tone in his voice as well. "Just try to see things from the perspective of a woman, and the kitschy inspiration will arise…"

"Charming as ever!" she giggled, turning around, shoving him away in a playful gesture and moving one step backwards, right into the wall of virtual water. Smooth coldness was enwrapping her body and she spread her arms. Her hair was waving with the undulation, her limbs were feeling lighter, almost like floating, but there was neither water pressure, nor wetness, nor boost. Only this soft, viscous"water", carrying her like fluid cotton.  
>She enjoyed that sensation as long as she could hold her breath, then she was leaving the virtual water, feeling as if walking through jelly.<p>

"Have you ever thought about exploiting these sort of creations as a theme park?" She grinned as they started walking along the archway of water. "I'm sure you could make a whole lot of money out of it."

Slightly sarcastic he responded: "With _attractions_ running riot and attacking the visitors? No, I don't think so."

Judith smiled at him briefly, and silently they were strolling through the blue shimmering tunnel.

There was a long, narrow bench at the end of it. About three arms breadth and one body length long. Kind of a bench one would find in a museum, a cozy, red padded bench to rest on.

Judith lay down on it, lolling on the velvety padding, looking up to Ed. "What now?" she asked, a little cheeky, bending one leg in a coquettish gesture while swirling light reflexes caused by the billow of the water-ceiling above her were smoothly dancing all over her body.

Ed kneed down at the headboard, his forearms resting left and right beside her head, looking down at her face the wrong way round. "I don't know… What would you like to do?" he asked her, a bit dryly, but yet there was a slight twinkle in his eyes like the faintest hint of cheekiness deep within.

"Oh, I bet you know already…" she said, grabbing his neck and pulling his head softly down to her until his lips reached hers for a kiss. She licked his stubbly chin as he slowly moved further to kiss her throat, while she let her fingers lose themselves within his hair, toying with its soft, dense strands.

His left elbow resting on the bench he reached out with his right hand to slowly pull open her suit, sliding further with his fingers, parting the material down to her crotch until the suit was gliding left and right from her body like a blanket unfolding, leaving her lying there nude and rosy and silk-skinned in the soft light of the blue-lit ambiance like a beautiful sacrifice of lust on an altar made of black silk and blood-red velvet.

And Ed was feasting on her luscious sight for some moments of sweet, lust-drunken relish. In urge to taste the carnal offer below him he was bowing over her then, still back to front, beginning to smother her body with gentle kisses, commencing with the two velvety hills of her breasts, caressing them relish-fully with lips and tongue and stubble, moving further to her navel, starting a lick there leading up to her mons veneris, and letting his tongue finally dive into the warm folds of its valley. With a rapt moan she bended her legs even more, allowing him easier access. Both of his forearms resting beside her body and kneeling with one leg on the bench, he was bending over her, caressing and enjoying the warm, delicious, savory flesh of his lover while his hands were grasping and seizing her soft buttocks in delighted captivation.

Judith's hands were reaching up to his chest, her fingers searching for the collar of his suit, opening it as she found the entrance. As she reached his crotch she freed him from the tight clothing, beginning to kiss the full, velvet-coated stiffness embedded in her gently stroking palms.  
>Ed had to interrupt his caressing for a moment, distracted by the sensation of her initial kiss, her initial lick. Then he proceeded, every of his caresses a response to hers, every of her caresses a response to his.<p>

Judith lost her concentration on caressing him at the moment she reached the edge of her conclusion and she couldn't go on, had to stop, for uncontrollable rapture was overflooding her every thought, her every action. "Oh… yes… please!" She could only moan in senseless gasping, clenching her fingers into his thighs beneath her head. And his grasp grew a little tighter as well. Exited and turned on by her entrancement, he increased his caressing, reacting to her climax raising, culminating, finally deflating with a released, weakened shiver.

She softly prompted him to stop for he just went on, like always, never sure about the exact moment to cease. He rose then and walked around the bench, kneeling down in front of her now, while she was sitting up, facing him. He bended in to kiss her passionately, pulling her hips towards his, nestling his erection gently into the tempting warmth of her wet lap. She spread her legs, inviting him in. And he entered, with gentle ardency, closing his trembling eyelids for a second and breathing out a slight moan of delight as he made his initial thrust into the deep, hot density of her body. His slightly parted lips were meeting hers, breathing into her open mouth while he had his eyes closed again, receiving finally her tongue diving in for hungry kisses.

As he began to move Judith placed her hands on his backside, seizing his buttocks, following his shoves, every tense of his muscles, in a gesture of enjoying and affirmation, while he was alternating between kissing her and breathing sighs of pleasure into the bend of her shoulder. The friction of his movements was stirring sensations in her body, so delicious and sweet she could barely handle the flood of thought-blinding delight running over her. With her rapture enhancing she started breathing mindless, lust-driven murmuring on his neck, her arms clinging to him tighter and tighter until her fingers were digging into his skin; her body a trembling, twitching, shivering widget beyond control.  
>And right at this moment of deepest intimacy and highest bliss she wanted to look into his eyes, wanted to share both, weakness and lust, wanted to offer him this instant of ultimate relinquish as a gift of devotion and love. So they were locking eyes, sharing a gaze, more intimate than any physical touch could have ever been.<p>

* * *

><p>Strained from emotions they silently lay there on the bench together for some moments of recovering; Judith laying on her back, Ed cowering on the floor in front of her, his head on her belly.<p>

He was the first one of them who stirred. "Let's go", he said, rising. "I don't feel comfortable at the thought of falling into sleep in the Grid."

"Sure," Judith answered him softly smiling and attiring herself with her suit. She watched Ed doing the same, his back to her, enjoying the short, but fascinating process of his suit enfolding around him, enwrapping his every bodypart skintight with shiny black, while the blue stripes of his circuitry were almost merging with the blue of the water-wall in front of which he was standing.

As the elevator reached the platform again and they were walking towards their dragonflies, Ed turned to her and explained: "This is a private part of the Grid which only belongs to us. You can visit it whenever you like. I'll give you the enter-code later."  
>Stroking the surface of his dragonfly's wing he added: "And… there's no danger of any viruses emerging. You can trust me."<p>

Judith smiled in a gesture of easing cheekiness. "Unless I decide to talk to the fishes about free will..."

Ed smirked, briefly raising his hands. "Oh well, that's your problem then!"

THE END

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><p><em>If you liked this story you might appreciate the fact that started to write a sequel! It's already uploaded and its title is "DEXTRA". It has two chapters so far. :D<em>


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